Confused about the NHS process for IVF

[Unagi]

Hello

My husband (age 37) and I (age 32) have been referred to the local infertility service via my GP in Leicestershire.

My husband has severe oligospermia, so we were told by the embryologist that we would need ICSI. Also, my AMH is only 9pmol/l.

I'm confused about what happens next...

I've been told it's a seven month wait for an initial NHS consultation. My referral was submitted a month ago for triage. It hasn't been reviewed yet and I'm not allowed to chase until it's been two months.

However, I've called a few other clinics in the area and they've said the wait for an initial consultation is only about a month. So, should I ring my GP and ask if he can refer me elsewhere? Is that how it works? He never gave me a choice.

What happens after the consultant has agreed to go ahead with ICSI? I've seen people say that it can take a few months for the funding to be approved, but I called the gynaecology department and they said the funding part is simple and doesn't cause a delay. I already know that we meet the criteria for one round of IVF on the NHS (funnily enough, I work for the ICB, but the employee who deals with funding is on holiday so I can't ask about it at the moment).

It seems like some people have been able to receive NHS treatment sooner by paying for the initial consultations and investigations. Is it actually possible to 'jump the queue'?

I really want to understand the pathway/process and when I, realistically, might be able to start treatment. I'd hate to wait ages only to find out I could have been seen quicker if I'd had more information.

Thank you in advance for any advice/insight you can share.

[Unagi]

I forgot to mention, we did visit Mr Ramsay, the male infertility specialist. He gave my husband some medication to try and increase his testosterone, but said it was only likely to improve sperm enough to put us in a better position for ICSI.

[Running-anywhere]

Hi - when I had the initial referral from my GP he gave the option for a private or NHS referral - the private appointment was with the same hospital (but the private bit of the building) and same doctor, paid £250 - meant I skipped 6 months waiting. Definitely worth it if you feel nervous of waiting. At that appointment they then put you forward for the investigations - and we then joined the wait for those which was about a month but that will depend on your hospital. After investigations if you are referred to IVF there is then another wait, for us it was another 4weeks.

You can have the private appointment even if you then have the investigations and treatment covered by funding. Hope that makes sense. Xx

[Unagi in reply to Running-anywhere]

That’s really useful to know. Thank you!

[CyclingAddict]

I waited about 9 months for treatment after being referred for IVF on the NHS. Like were referred due to male factor infertility, so we're doing IVF/ICSI. I wasn't aware you could pay for appointments - that might depend on the clinic.

We ended up going private in the end as the waiting times between transfers on the NHS is plenty long (between 5-6 months) and they couldn't perform the tests we needed. Unfortunately if you're with the NHS the waiting lists can be quite long X

[aso328]

We have been in a similar situation to yourselves. Happy for you to message me privately if you wish.

The wait to get referred for IVF for us in Norfolk was 6-7 months. We knew we needed to see an andrologist (such as Mr Ramsey), so we went private for that appointment which allowed us to skip some waiting time, my husband had a varicoele embolisation and microTESE, both done on the NHS but referred from the private consultant, so that definitely saved us time (and a lot of money). When our IVF referral came through we still hadn’t had these procedures so cant comment on how long it took as we then stalled the IVF referral. We are now in the middle of our second ICSI cycle, using microTESE sperm.

We had considered using donor sperm, and may still need to but the microTESE has given us the opportunity to be able to consider using our own DNA.