Your Visits to ACS

When we receive your referral letter, one of the ACS doctors will decide if we need some more information from your referrer or if we have enough information to allocate you a clinic appointment.

When we are able to offer you an outpatient appointment, we will write to you and give you a date and time approximately 4-6 weeks later for you both to attend for your first ACS appointment. This may be in person or on the telephone, your letter will advise which.

If you are having treatment with a male partner, it is most important that your partner has had a sperm sample analysed prior to your appointment. This should be arranged through his GP.

Please note that if your partner has not had his sperm analysed before your first clinic appointment we will not be able to proceed with further investigation or treatment.

At your first consultation (which will take about 30 minutes) you will speak to a Specialist Fertility Nurse or a Doctor. They will take a detailed medical history from you both and ask for your current BMI. If your clinic appointment is in person we can check this for you and you may also need an internal ultrasound scan of your ovaries and uterus.

Please note that to be eligible for treatment offered by ACS you must meet the following criteria (the first two apply to the female partner only):

• eligible patients must be screened before the female partner’s 42nd birthday
• the female partner must have a BMI above 18.5 and below 30. Couples should be aware that a normal BMI is best for both partners.
• both partners must be non-smoking and non-vaping for at least three months before being added to a waiting list for treatment and couples must continue to be non-smoking/vaping during treatment. This includes patches, gum and e cigarettes
• couples where only one partner has legal parenthood of a child (or a biological child) can access NHS funded treatment as long as all other access criteria are met in full
• same sex couples will not be eligible if they already have a child in the home and both have
  consented to legal parenthood of that child
• If either couple have embryos stored from previous treatment, either NHS or self funded, these must be used before any further treatment
• neither partner to have undergone voluntary sterilisation or had reversal of sterilisation
• couples must have been cohabiting in a stable relationship for a minimum of two years
• both partners must abstain from illegal and abusive substances
• both partners must be Methadone free for at least one year prior to treatment
• neither partner should drink alcohol prior to or during the period of treatment

Provided you are eligible for treatment at ACS, the most likely outcome of your first visit is that we will be able to recommend a treatment appropriate for you. Should you decide to proceed with that treatment, your name will be placed on the appropriate waiting list.
However, sometimes it will be necessary for you to make several visits to ACS before we can recommend a treatment appropriate for you. Here are some examples of reasons why that might be the case:

• blood tests need to be carried out but cannot be done during your first visit as they need to be taken at a particular time in your menstrual cycle.
• an x-ray  or scan needs to be carried out to see whether your fallopian tubes are blocked.
• your partner needs to provide another semen sample to confirm the results from his first sample.
• your BMI needs to be reduced to less than 30 or increased to greater than 18.5

When your name reaches the top of the treatment waiting list (which may take up to 12 months from the date of your referral to ACS), we will send you a letter giving you your next two appointment dates.

The first of these appointments (ART appointment) will be dated 4 to 6 weeks after the date of the letter you received, and the second appointment (Post Screen appointment) 2 to 3 weeks after that.