Hi,
I wanted to get some advice about getting support in UK after having IVF transfer abroad. I’m getting my transfer done in Spain but I’m not sure what to do about getting the pregnancy blood test, scans, medication reviews and then who might monitor the pregnancy (if it’s successful) after.
I rang a few UK fertility clinics but they were not prepared to do it. Any advice on what you ladies did or going to do or heard about would be much appreciated.
Take a look at our website fertilitynetworkuk.org Access Support then select Fertility Groups - scroll to UK-Wide Groups to find Fertility Treatment Abroad then follow prompts to register your interest to join the group
Look after yourself
Janet-Partner
Hello Monsie! Where about's are you based? I am also getting my treatment abroad and have been doing tests with 24h turnaround in London. Medication has been trickier as there is very little medication approved in the UK in general (for anything I must say), but I have coordinated this once with a private gynaecologist/ local pharmacy for some close replacements. I now have a stock of medication to last me 2-3months just in case. My husband is also prepare to fly in case we need any specialist prescriptions. Monitoring can be done by any private gynaecologist, does not need to be a fertility specialist. There should be plenty in any major town. DM me if you want names of clinics, gynaecologists, test places etc. xx
You can do a home pregnancy test to find out. If you want a blood test you would need to organise a blood test with either a private lab or home kit like medichecks. Some ultrasound places offer blood tests too. For a viability scan you can find a private ultrasound clinic (like window to the womb, ultrasound direct etc) there are so many out there. Your clinic in Spain should tell you when you need one. As for NHS they won't do anything until after 8-10 weeks when you are assigned a midwife. Some GPs might be sympathetic and allow you a pregnancy test but normally they don't offer it. In the NHS you don't normally get a viability scan. Only if there are issues you will be referred to the early pregnancy unit of your local hospital for this.
Thank you for this. My previous London clinic did lots of blood tests and monitoring until unfortunately I has a MC but I'm now realising I might be left on my own after the transfer which is extremely anxiety-provoking
I am sorry about your loss If you had previous miscarriages the early pregnancy unit might be able to do some monitoring depending on their policies.
hello honestly there is absolutely nothing here after transfer abroad our communication was all with Spain. We did get a few private scans at home but medication, we took home with us and we were honestly prepared to go back to Spain for a weekend if we needed to pick more up. The local gp was not helpful at all because I had chosen to go abroad. I couldn’t even get them to do a blood test. There are some private clinics that will communicate with your clinic in Spain but you pay for prescriptions and letters to be translated and pay for the consultants time. I was lucky and just needed most meds until 12 weeks so bought them abroad and took them all home. Then you just fall in to the normal pregnancy pathway here xxx
Hi, I had IVF in Spain and I used my local IVF clinic and paid for blood test, used Window to the womb for scans, my clinic were in control of my medication and when I got pregnant the NHS took over my care.
Thank you for this. Are you based in London? Could you DM your IVF clinic please if somewhere near
No I’m in the midlands. My local hospital has a satellite IVF clinic for CARE fertility that would do bloods for me at £40/£60. It was good as they understood the urgency to get them done last minute and I’d get results same day.
I’m having treatment in Greece x
I’ve always arranged my own HCG blood tests with ultrasound direct.
With regards to meds some people buy the whole lot before they fly home. When I had my last transfer I bought enough for a week after the TWW. The clinic then gave me a prescription for another 4 weeks which I arranged from fertility to you. Would your clinic not do this? Once the heartbeat is confirmed your local maternity unit should take over then. Our clinic keep all patients for 10 weeks as that’s when medication is stopped. xx
Yes, I think the clinic will sort out the prescription. I haven't spoken to my clinic about what will happen after the transfer but I just want to get a plan in place as I know I will be very anxious
Hi. I had IVF and transfers in Spain and it was literally so easy to coordinate any follow up after getting pregnant , the Spanish clinic provided me with prescriptions (free) for progesterone during TWW and for first 12 weeks when positive test which I then used a local pharmacy to get , had to pay as they are private scripts but they were not expensive at all. You can get viability scan at 6 weeks and then anytime you want really from a private ultrasound provider(I went practically every week for reassurance due to previous miscarriage) ultrasound direct also do blood tests where you generally get results back next day so if you need your progesterone/hcg levels etc monitored or need the reassurance easy peasy to do through them also then send to dr in Spain for feedback/any FU. Even a UK clinic would just do blood/urine pregnancy test to confirm pregnancy then viability scan and some bloods anyway and then hand you over to NHS for support from 12 weeks, its honestly easy peasy to arrange these yourself. Dm me if you have any questions Xx
hi I also had ivf in Spain. I used window to the womb for scans and a private gp for blood tests. Then moved to nhs from 12 weeks of pregnancy the nhs won’t treat you before 12 weeks of pregnancy because you will be having private treatment. Good luck in your journey xx
I've did my treatment in the UK but all I got after transfer was an at home pregnancy test and 1 viability scan which as others have said you can book privately. I haven't had any bloods or medication reviews or anything but you can get bloods done privately too if you want.
Hi there,I did my IVF treatment in Greece and then had a mix of private blood tests and GP blood tests. GP was really nice actually to do this for me but they said they wouldn't normally do it.
So like others have said, book private bloods and scans and report the results back to your ivf clinic.
With regards to medication, I bought some from Greece (for a month or so) and then I needed more so I was offered 2 options from my local pharmacy in the UK.
1) Private GP prescription or
2) original prescription from my ivf clinic in greece with stamps and signature, clearly showing the name of the clinic, address, email etc.
I went for the private GP prescription as it was quicker...
Hope this helps x
Really helpful. Thank you x
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