Our Work

Fertility Scotland’s priorities

Fertility Scotland has been established to support NHSScotland fertility services to take a ‘Once for Scotland’ approach in how they work and how they improve the care they provide to patients.

This includes for example improving referral pathways, developing common processes and standards for both clinical and laboratory care pathways and protocols, and facilitating data gathering, analysis and publication of outcomes to promote continual service improvement.

The ‘facet diagram’ below gives a summary overview of the key areas that the network will focus on in its work programme.

Guidance for Referral from Primary to Secondary/Tertiary Care

Fertility care in Scotland is delivered through a structured referral pathway that ensures equitable, timely, and clinically appropriate access to specialist services. This guidance outlines how individuals and couples can be referred from primary care (GP) to secondary or tertiary fertility services within NHS Scotland.

This includes criteria for early referral, required investigations, and eligibility for NHS-funded treatment. The pathway is designed to support consistent care across Scotland and is available to view on the Right Decisions platform.

Presentation: Guidance for referral from primary to secondary/tertiary care fertility service in NHS Scotland.

Video link: Referral Pathway – referral from primary to secondary/tertiary care