In April, NUH Life hosted our first online GP open evening, with around 15 GPs from across Nottinghamshire learning more about how to manage fertility patients in primary care. Our specialists Dr. Fulva Dave, Victoria Ryder and Karen Pooley presented a series of short talks on:
- Fertility investigations and lifestyle advice
- Funding, pathways and referrals
- Fertility patient support
- Andrology services
- Fertility treatments
A recent national patient survey highlighted the challenges that fertility patients face when accessing their GP (HFEA 2025), with only 43% of fertility patients reporting that they were satisfied with their experience in Primary Care, and around half of same sex couples, single people and gender diverse patient bypassing their GP entirely.
Our open evenings form a key part of our Primary Care outreach programme, ensuring that GPs understand the importance of timely investigation and referral for all fertility patients.
We know there is a lot of confusion over who can be referred and who is funded. The good news is you can refer anyone to our service. Most will be eligible for NHS-funded investigations and advice at least, and if they aren’t, we have low-cost self-funded options available too.
At NUH Life we’ve been working hard over the last two years to streamline our referral pathway and simplify processes for both GPs and patients. You test and refer, we sort the rest. The best news is because we’re funded on block contract from our ICBs, there’s no cost to your practice to make a referral.
We’re planning more open evenings in Autumn 2025, so if you’re a GP, or a patient, and are interested to know more about NUH Life services, visit our Open evenings page to register your interest or get in touch with any questions.