NEWBIE! donor sperm in scotland on the nhs

[teenyweeny]

Hi ladies!

my husband and I have been told today that we must consider a sperm donor in light of his test results....both upset but want to move onto this option. can any of you ladies shed any light on how the process works in Scotland?? do we get to pick who we can use as a sperm donor? is this covered on the nhs or do we have to pay for this? how long is the wait? Also how is the treatment choice selected, IUI OR IVF?? sorry for all these questions, I am upset and i'm trying to get an understanding of how this might work and cant seem to find the right info on the internet. thank you all xx

[FertilityFriends]

[sarahsuperdork]

Sorry to hear you're in this position.

I'm in a same-sex relationship but my donor sperm was done on the NHS because of my fertility issues. It might depend on your area so it could be worth speaking to your local CCG about it. I have no idea how it works in Scotland in particular (I'm in Yorkshire) but the wait will be area dependant so hopefully someone else can advise!

We were given a selection of six potential donors to choose from; all were Scandinavian origin as there's a shortage of UK donors (or at least, there was up to last year when we started treatment). The entire IVF treatment, including donor sperm, was covered by the NHS.

[teenyweeny]

Thanks for your reply Sarah, xx

[WolfyOne]

Hiya carol, just to let you know there is a lot of support around here. There are unfortunately many of us ladies whose husbands have NOA (non-obstructive azoospermia) and other reasons for needing to use a sperm donor 

It is unfortunately a postcode lottery with regards to treatment. Our CCG in East Sussex does not cover any donor treatment irrespective of the infertility reason  (so wrong if you ask me given our medical reasons for requiring it  they would have covered IVF if we hadn't have needed a donor!), so we are having to go to a private clinic. We found this out from the consultant that diagnosed DH so they should be able to advise you.

Just to note if you have no problems it is often best to start with IUI as it is less intrusive. Good luck 

[teenyweeny]

Thanks for your reply Wolfy, I have found ff and the ladies on here very helpful and it has been a comfort. That is very unfair that donor treatment is not funded in your area!! Xx

[Femsmurf]

Hi Teenyweeny!

Just thought I'd share my experience as I am currently on my 2WW from my second cycle of Donor IUI.My test date is 30th of August.

When it came to selecting our donor, we just got asked to call up the donor co-ordinator nurse and ask for the username and password our clinic uses to access the ESB website. Once we got the details, we had to look at the website and select a donor we liked the sound of and to call back the donor coordinator nurse and she she reserved it for us. Our health authority paid for it as we were granted full funding so we were lucky. We had to call the embryologist before though to find out how many straws we needed. We were told 10 (one per IUI cycle and 1 per IVF cycle although we were allocated 6 IUIs (3 unmediated followed by 3 medicated if unsuccessful then 3 IVF if those fail so we will have one left over if it takes all our goes so don't know why she said 10 when we get 9 goes altogether. I don't know what health authority you are but, I am A&A and they fund it. Other areas don't and some do so depends where you live to whether you get it all funded or have to pay for the sperm (some authorities only fund the IUI/IVF)

Good luck x

[teenyweeny]

oh congratulations femsmurf just seen you got a bfp thats wonderful news!!! you must be on top of the world! that gives me hope

can i ask how you found the full experience at the royal and being from ayrshire and arran?? was there a waiting time between selecting a donor and receiving the funding for it ie does the process take longer than straighforward ivf with no donor needed?

congrats again!

[Femsmurf]

Thanks Teenyweeny! We didn't have to wait long at all from when we reached toll of list to selecting a donor. We had screening appointment on 1st April, selected Donor on 2nd and called coordinator so she could reserve it for us in the 3rd April and we then had to wait until I got AF to get started and I got AF on the 10th May and started blood test monitoring on day 10 which was 19th May and I had to go for blood tests every 3 days except I went 3 days when it was weekend. I ended up having 6 blood tests that cycle and the IUI was on 30/05 which was CD21. It didn't work. This cycle I started on day 11 because my day 10 was a Sunday and I had 5 blood tests and IUI was on day 22 and it worked.


Everyone at the Royal who dealt with me were all very friendly. I had the actual IUI at the Nuffield both times and bloods at the Royal but, that's just because there lab isn't ready yet but I was told they'd be up and running in October.


and A&A were quite quick in paying up because the sperm was at the Royal quite quick for me starting. They say it can take up to 21 days but it depends on how quick health authorities pay up.

[teenyweeny]

Thanks femsmurf, that's good to know!! Hope you are doing well xx