The Fertility Show is back 20-21 May 2023
The Fertility Show LIVE will be returning to London Olympia on 20 – 21 May 2023 and we are delighted to be a part of it once again. The renowned show is the only live event that lets you meet with so many top fertility experts, clinics and doctors in one place at one…
Tips for coping with Mother’s Day
Tips for coping with Mother’s Day Mother’s Day can be one of the hardest days of the year when you’re struggling to conceive or experiencing the loss of miscarriage. It all too often feels like a cruel reminder of what you don’t have and most desperately long for and it…
Staffordshire & Stoke-on-Trent’s proposed interim fertility policy the worst in UK
As well as offering the least possible amount of treatment for women aged 23-40: Women aged 40-42 are excluded from the policy. Single women are excluded – the policy states it is only for individuals ‘in a stable relationship’ Female same-sex couples have to pay for six IUI cycles within…
28 March 2023 – Recognising Reproductive Health’: a Fertility in the Workplace summit
On 28 March 2023, at City Hall, London, Fertility Network UK will bring together key campaigners, organisations and individuals to highlight the future of reproductive health in the workplace and the pressing need for change. The ‘Recognising Reproductive Health’ summit, which runs from 10.30am-3.30pm, is part of the charity’s ground-breaking…
Fertility Network welcomes HFEA consultation on modernising UK fertility law
Fertility Network UK today responded to the fertility regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, launching its consultation on modernising UK fertility law. The law that governs fertility treatment and human embryo research in the UK – the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Act – is over 30 years old. Gwenda…
Petition to protect people experiencing pregnancy complications or loss from unnecessary distress
It aims to protect people experiencing pregnancy complications and/or pregnancy loss from unnecessary distress by requiring the NHS to offer a separate space/waiting area for people experiencing this. Require separate NHS areas for people experiencing pregnancy complications/loss - Petitions (parliament.uk) Jodie, a Fertility Network ambassador, created the petition after miscarrying…
Good news: NHS fertility treatment in Essex to be reinstated
The change, which is due to be implemented at the start of April 2023, is happening because Mid and South Essex integrated care board (ICB) is harmonising its fertility policies across the areas it covers, which include Mid-Essex, Basildon & Brentwood, Southend, Thurrock and Castlepoint & Rochford. From 1 April,…
Fertility Network UK warns on proposed Welsh fertility policy changes
The Welsh Health Specialised Services Committee (WHSSC) is proposing changes to fertility treatment policies in Wales which will ration access to NHS fertility treatment for heterosexual couples, make it harder for same-sex couples to access NHS treatment and exclude single women and men from accessing NHS help. The proposed policies…
Coping with Christmas
Facing Christmas and the festive season when you’re struggling with fertility issues can be too painful to bear. It’s hard enough seeing images of family and what you don’t have and want during the rest of the year, but there’s something about Christmas that can make it far, far worse.…
Access to NHS IVF in Bristol to change
From 1 April 2023, women aged 40-42 will not be able to access NHS IVF but single women and transgender people will be able to for the first time. Although a public consultation revealed that people wanted the number of IVF cycles to rise from the current 1 partial cycle…
Fantastic news for Fertility in the Workplace
Fantastic news: we are delighted to announce our ground-breaking Fertility in the Workplace initiative, which aims to change the work landscape for all experiencing fertility issues, has been successful in securing support from the DHSC’s Women’s Health and Wellbeing Fund. We’re looking forward to substantially expanding our vital work helping…
Support for weight loss on the path to fertility treatment is essential
No one ever talks about infertility and what happens if you are unable to have a baby. For many years you welcome ‘Aunt Flo’, all while keeping pharmacies in business. But no one discusses the disappointment and grief when she continues to visit you every month when you are ready.…
The challenges of becoming a solo mum by choice
I have always wanted to be a mum and I thought I’d meet someone in my twenties, get married and have children. However, I found myself at 36, single and childless. People’s comments were: ‘The clock is ticking’, ‘You will meet someone’, ‘Lots of people your age don’t have children’.…
A special journey to make: from fertility treatment to adoption
People come to adoption for a lot of different reasons. For an increasing number, it’s their number one choice because of concerns for the limitations of our planet to provide for a growing population. Others have cultural or religious motivations, are in a same-sex relationship or are building on a…
The journey to solo parenthood
I decided to take this path after not having met anyone I saw a long-term future with for a long time, and really wanting to be a mum. I wasn’t willing to settle for just anyone in order to have a child. I used to joke through my 20s that…
What should high school fertility ed cover?
When I teach school children, I concentrate on the menstrual cycle (periods and the fertile window), PCOS, endometriosis, female and male fertility decline, infertility, and menopause. I make it clear that some of these topics are relevant whether they want children or not, and that these issues may affect boys,…
‘Donating our remaining embryos seemed to be the perfect end to our journey’
Where to start? For me, the obvious starting point is the end. And what is more powerful than the words we used to sign-off for the very last time from our fertility blog: “So this is where our story both starts and ends: What an incredible ending it is, and…
What I wish I’d known sooner
As I type, I am waiting for my bleed after another failed round of IVF. This time, we’d gone from high as kites, to a thud back to gloomy reality in a matter of days. Finally, we’d had a (faint but) positive pregnancy test, though sadly, our joy was short…
‘You have extremely low sperm parameters and there is nothing we can do’
My story begins 10 years ago. My wife and I had been trying naturally to have children for over a year and we had accepted things may not happen as naturally as we hoped due to my wife’s PCOS. After several month of tests for my wife, the fertility clinic…
HIMfertility – ‘the most important discovery in our journey’
It was in May 2020 that I attended my first HimFertility meeting. I was feeling overwhelmed, lost, alone and unsure of how to react to the news that I had two nil sperm tests, a meaningless doctor’s appointment and a urologist scan that showed no physical issues. What next? I…