Vasectomy is a service that has been provided on the NHS for many years. The vasectomy surgeons
at Vasectomy NI have been providing this service for over 6 years since they received specialist
training in the No scalpel vasectomy technique in 2016. Unfortunately over recent months the
funding for community vasectomy services has been dramatically reduced to such an extent that
GP’s are no longer allowed to refer their patients into the community vasectomy service.

A small trickle of funding still exists but unfortunately, this has been reduced by over a third. This
means the waiting time has now tripled. The waiting list before the funding was cut was
approximately 2 years. Given that the funding has been reduced by a third this means that if funding
continues, it is likely to be 4-5 years before these men undergo a simple cost effective family
planning procedure.

Reasons for the long waiting lists

Waiting lists across the health service have increased dramatically in recent years. Part of this is to
do with the stagnation of government. There has also been the “covid” effect, when routine NHS
procedures were suspended. This led to an astronomical backlog of patients waiting for
appointments with consultants or life changing operations such as knee and hip replacements.
What this means is that that money has been diverted to the highest priority specialities such as
cancer and emergency services. The impact of this has meant that routine or elective services such
as vasectomy have essentially almost cease to exist. This is highly short sighted. It removes a
sensible family planning choice for thousands of men. Birth rates are likely to increase as a result and
this will create extra pressure on the NHS and public services that will have to be met in the future.

What are the options?

If you have been referred for a community vasectomy pre-October 2023 you will still be on a waiting
list although, as previously mentioned it is likely to be years and with the looming threat of financial
cuts as we approach the end of the financial year, it is entirely possible that the community
vasectomy service will cease to exist altogether.

There are other family planning methods available. Unfortunately, these are usually female methods,
such as the the contraceptive pill, implant and coil and female sterilisation. These requires
hormones or a more difficult operation under general anaesthetic that is ten times less effective as
male sterilisation.

More and more people are turning towards the independent sector to have many of their non
urgent medical needs met. Due to the number of people making enquiries and the degree of
financial cuts from the Department of Health, VasectomyNI was set up to offer couples an option to
take control of their family planning and remove the need for hormones to control a couples
contraception needs.

It is our belief that people should be able to access vasectomy in a timely manner once they have
decided that their family is complete or indeed if they have decided not to have children. Minimally
invasive vasectomy takes approximately 30 minutes and the majority of men are sterile withing 4
months. It is an ideal method of contraception with none of the side effects of taking hormones.

Cost of Vasectomy in Northern Ireland.

The price of a private vasectomy in Northern Ireland can vary widely from 650 – 3000 pounds,
depending on the provider. The cost at vasectomy NI is £695. This includes your consultation with
the doctor (usually the same day), your procedure in modern premises, and also one or two post
vasectomy analyses. We also guarantee that if your procedure is not a success (0.5%), it will be
repeated free of charge. We have tried to keep the cost competitive as we want it to be as
accessible to as many people as possible.

You can also be confident that you will be having your procedure performed by one of the most
experienced Vasectomy Surgeons in Northern Ireland, and one of the first to be providing this
procedure in Northern Ireland. If you would like more information please e-mail
info@vasectomyni.co.uk or complete our online enquiry form.