rachelle1975

Hello lovely ladies,

Just a quickie about ICSI and IVF....

... after you have had all the tests done (through docs) and the only options is ICSI/IVF - how long did you have to wait for the treatment to start? Did your age make any difference?

Also, how do you find out if you fall into the category that qualifies for treatment on the NHS?

Bit vague i know, my head is a bit all over the shop and the doctor won't discuss it until we go back in 3 weeks.

Thanks guys

maz

Hi hun

As far as I am aware, every couple is entitle to one free cycle of NHS IVF or ICSI. As for timescales, that really seems to vary, not just from one health board to another, but also from one hospital to another. Here in NI, for my board area, my NHS waiting time is currently 13 months for IVF and a bit longer for ICSI, which is why we are going private. I'm not sure of the age limit for treatment - privately I think it is 45 but NHS may be different. I think the most important thing is that your BMI is less than 33.

If you are planning to go private, get yourself on the NHS waiting list anyway. At least that way you are covering all your bases. Plus, if you are successful privately first go, you can use your NHS treatment second time round.

Hope that is of some help.

rachelle1975

Thanks Maz - i'm 33 in a couple of weeks just after DH has his second SA. Then he gets referred to urologist so hopefully they will put us on the waiting list straight off?

DH and i had a chat about it and he said that we should get a loan and pay for it rather than saving and then doing it - his mum said she'd remortgage bless her!

I think i will feel more settled after the next SA - i don't imagine it's going to go up from 1.5million to 20 million plus but hopefully there will be some increase.

Blood hair tablets - i'm blaming them!! x

Helen

We had the news in early May/end of April I think and then we went private and our cycle started in September. It would have been the cycle before but it didn't correspond too well with our consultants summer hols!

Age didn't make any difference to the wait. I was 33 and DH 39.

The NHS waiting list and private waiting lists vary from place to place depending on your PCT. Private is usually within a couple of months. The NHS list in our area is 3 years but that is quite long. We are still on that list You can be on the NHS whilst going private so make sure your specialist puts you on it too.

I have a document from 2005 that I can email you or anyone else who wants it, that shows different PCTs and waiting times, what will be funded, age limits, etc. PM me your email address if you'd like me to send it on to you. Obviously it's getting a little old now, but I don't know if they've repeated the survey at all recently.

The specialist advised us on that and he was the one that put us on the NHS waiting list.

Hope that helps.

H

xx

maz

We are hoping to have a credit card baby!! Heehee - initially anyway. We have £5k coming to us early next year so DH decided we may as well put it on the card and then pay it off as soon as we get the money through.

Check for private clinics in your area and see if your NHS trust 'sells' unfunded slots for IVF.

In NI there is one hospital that receives funding for IVF / ICSI but there are about 5 different boards within NI. What happens is there are different waiting lists for different boards so that there isn't a surge of newborns in one board area, and no social support for them all. Our waiting time NHS is 13 months, if we pay for the unfunded slot the wait time is approx 8 months. Which is ridiculous when you think about it. May as well wait another few months and get it free. Anyway, we got fed up waiting and being shoved from pillar to post so we are going proper private. It is rather annoying that we pay taxes and national insurance and have to wait ages for free treatment - but heyho - what can we do about it?

Anyway, to get back to what I was trying to say - get on as many waiting lists as you can and they can running in the background even if you do decide to go private.

Hope that makes sense

rachelle1975

Thanks ladies!

Well we have another appt on 15th Sept so will see how it goes from there i guess - i'm not good with limbo tho!!

DH can't do anything until the drugs flush out of his system so gotta wait until November 20th (not counting much am i??) and then he should be all clear! I know that after the 15th if his sperm has not increased from 1.5mil to 20 mil then they will refer him to urologist. i shall have to give him a list of Q&As otherwise it will take forever - we are both at different GPs so it's a bloody nightmare!!