Help please: IVF with NHS

[FrancyItaly]

Hi ladies, I will start my 6th and last Clomid cycle tomorrow with my private clinic but I am already a step ahead thinking about IVF with NHS if this cycle fails.

I had a telephone appointment with the assisted conception unit in my hospital (Kingston Hospital) and the doctor told me that they are going to call to check if we are eligible for funding.

I have no idea what this means, what are the criterias?

Also how did you find it with the NHS? Was it very different from the IVF cycles in your private clinic?

[Orla9298]

Eligibility for Ivf is sadly due to lots of things - postcode, sexual orientation, Amh, fsh, age, time trying. But I think looking at your profile and age you should be entitled to ivf unless your postcode/CCG don’t entitle to you! I think most areas give at least one round, fingers crossed! I was eligible for 2 rounds despite my friends who lived in the same city getting 3 rounds as they lived 5 miles north of me! 😳

[FrancyItaly in reply to Orla9298]

Hi Orla, thank you for your message. The doctor seems to think that I am and that I could start in a couple of months. I’m very curious to know how many they offer but I will do all these attempts before moving back to the private clinic. It’s just too expensive. The postcode lottery is so stupid! How can I find out how many they offer in my area, any ideas?

[Orla9298 in reply to FrancyItaly]

I think you can probably find this through the hfea website or else search your postcode and ccg, then search that ccg ivf policy xx

[FrancyItaly in reply to Orla9298]

Thank you Orla! 💕 How are you doing these days?

[Orla9298 in reply to FrancyItaly]

Ok! Frantic with work, covid has made my work really difficult but that’s probably the same for most! We were

24 weeks on Tuesday, and have a 4D peek scan next week. Feel very lucky. Fingers crossed for you!!! I hope you get approval and good amount of rounds!xx

[FrancyItaly in reply to Orla9298]

That’s great to hear!!! Amazing milestone! Xx

[Hidden]

Hey if you cant find your ccg policy email them. They can direct you. Xx

[FrancyItaly in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for your message! I actually just found it! It sounds like we are eligible but they only offer 1 fresh cycle of IVF and one Frozen cycle 🤷🏻‍♀️ Not sure it this is normal or rubbish, but it is what it is.. How are you doing?

[KiboXX in reply to FrancyItaly]

More and more areas are only offering one round now sadly. I live in an area which has zero funding and hasn’t for a number of years now. Might only take one round for you 🥰 xxx

[FrancyItaly in reply to KiboXX]

I hope so Kibo! I hope you and your little one are doing well xxx

[Hidden]

Hi I was only eligible for one NHS round, however I transferred my care to the private clinic and had my funded round there. I’ve since paid for further rounds and been able to stay with the same clinic x

[FrancyItaly in reply to Hidden]

Thank you Jokiekin, that sounds like a good plan but I’m not sure if I can do that with my current clinic. I hope your cycle goes well! Xx

[Hidden in reply to FrancyItaly]

You can transfer your nhs funded round to a private clinic. You have to contact your GP and do an individual funding request. They just don’t tell you about this. Thank you 🙏 xx

[FrancyItaly in reply to Hidden]

And does every private clinic accept this?

[Hidden in reply to FrancyItaly]

It maybe certain clinics. I went to Care Fertility. X

[Sparklylife]

I think they also look at your lifestyle when they look at eligibility - BMI, smoking and when they checked for us, it also had to be the first pregnancy/child for both me and my partner. We got approved and with our CCG they allow one round on the NHS - so if you get a frozen transfer too that sounds great with today’s system! Some don’t seem to get any. I feel very, very lucky and grateful - as we had success on our first NHS round! Still feeling nervous it is too good to be true - but so far all good and we are 22 weeks tomorrow 🥰🤞 I could not fault our clinic at all! They are both private and NHS. It was perhaps a while to wait in between things, I called to chase stuff a few times, but it then seemed to happen - so I did not mind taking that responsibility, so all seemed ok as far as I was aware (but I am very new still to all this). They did not offer embryoscope on the NHS at our clinic, so we paid extra for that. And I got no idea if it really helps or not, research seems to be mixed still - but we decided it was right for us and so we went with it.

I wish you all the best with your last Clomid cycle 🤞 and hope you get funding approved if you have to start ivf!! 🧡

[FrancyItaly in reply to Sparklylife]

I think we meet all the criterias in terms of Amh, BMI, non smokers, first child, so let’s hope they call me soon to confirm. The policy says one fresh and one frozen, so hopefully this is the case! I’m so glad to hear that it work on the first round for you! Xxx

[_CrochetQueen]

We were very lucky to get offered 2 fresh cycles and 2 frozen cycles where we live, but getting the funding was a mission. We started our initial tests for it all in June 2018, the package finally went to panel Dec 2019 but was declined, we were meant to go back to panel March 2020 but covid delayed us. So, it went back to panel May 2020, but we got declined again. So we went to appeal and finally won our case Sep 2020. It was mentally exhausting but worth every tear now we are 9 weeks & 4 days pregnant on our first cycle. I wish you all the best and I honestly hope your funding journey will be a smoother ride ❤

[FrancyItaly in reply to _CrochetQueen]

Brilliant to hear that you also had success on the first cycle! Wishing you all the best for the months ahead! x