National Fertility Awareness Week will run from the 2nd to 6th November 2026, led by Fertility Action. For five days, it will create a public space for experiences that are often kept intensely private. This year’s event comes at a poignant time, with the NHS estimating that around one in seven couples may have difficulty conceiving. Behind that figure are months of anxious waiting, difficult decisions and plans that may have changed repeatedly.
If you are trying to conceive, time can start to feel organised around cycle dates, appointments and the wait to test. A pregnancy announcement can bring happiness for somebody you love and sadness for yourself at the same time. Even a well-meant question about children can leave you deciding, without warning, how much of your private life to reveal.
The week brings these experiences into view and challenges the expectation that people should endure fertility difficulties in silence.
Why so much of the fertility experience remains unspoken
Fertility uncertainty can be difficult to explain while you are still living through it. You may not know whether the next month will bring a positive test, a referral, a diagnosis or another period of waiting. Telling somebody can also invite follow-up questions at times when you have no new information – or simply do not feel ready to answer.
Keeping your experiences quiet can protect your privacy, certainly, yet it may also leave you carrying the burden of anxiety and stress without the people around you understanding what is happening.
A more open conversation does not require anyone to make their personal experience public. National Fertility Awareness Week simply creates an opportunity for people to speak on their own terms while helping friends, relatives and colleagues respond with greater sensitivity.
Ovulation testing and GP intervention
If your immediate question is when ovulation is approaching, self testing kits for ovulation can detect the rise in luteinising hormone (LH) that usually occurs shortly before an egg is released. For example, the Suresign Ovulation Test detects this surge and gives results in minutes, helping you identify when conception is most likely.
However, the results of self testing kits relate specifically to timing. Your cycle history, general health and – where relevant – your partner’s reproductive health add the crucial wider context. So, when should you take it further or consider talking to your GP?
NHS guidance recommends speaking to a GP after a year of regular unprotected sex, which it defines as having sex every two to three days without contraception. This general referral point reflects the fact that more than eight in ten couples (where the woman is under 40) conceive naturally within that timeframe.
This being said, 12 months without results is too long for many women to wait, and you should consider making an appointment sooner if you are aged 36 or over, because fertility begins to decline more quickly during the mid-thirties and investigations can take time. Previous cancer treatment, a possible sexually transmitted infection or another concern about your or your partner’s fertility might also warrant an earlier appointment.
Find your likely ovulation window
If knowing when ovulation is approaching would help you plan, the Suresign Ovulation Test detects the LH surge that occurs shortly before an egg is released and gives you results in minutes. Find the test at a pharmacy near you using the Suresign stockist finder.
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