Private fertility scans?

[UserL95]

I would appreciate some advice from anyone who has done private care stuff for fertility?
I am from West Midlands and happy to travel to locations.
me and DH have both had bloods done on nhs which have come back fine. Sperm analysis is booked. I am waiting transvaginal ultrasound but I have been told that gynae has 52 week or more wait period and I don’t want to wait that long.
Has anybody done this scan privately? How did you find your clinic? And how much did you pay?
I have found fertility centres (that specialise in ivf) that offer these scans for £300+ and I have found an ultrasound clinic which offers scan for £100. Very different prices. However, for £300+ I would also get a consult from a fertility consultant. I’m so stuck on wht to do as it is a lot of money.

for more info we have been TTC for 12 cycles, currently waiting AF, and want to have a plan for next month if needed! Never experienced seeing two lines on a test yet

try window to the womb. i worked in one of their clinics and they’ve started gynae scans (not sure if still just trialling in some locations but might as well check as there’s clinics all over the country). iirc they’re £70 and offer full women’s health check / pre ivf / etc etc

I had bloods done with NHS but went to Care Fertility for private tests and a consultation after 18 months of TTC. I am also in the West Midlands.

It cost around £600 for blood test for me, which only looked at AMH and AFC, scan which counted follicles and looked at uterus, and then a SA for DP. Plus the 1 hour consultant appointment to go through our results and talk through our options.

If you can afford it, I highly recommend you book these tests. It put our minds at rest and gave us the chance to discuss our results in detail. You don’t get this with the NHS.

In the end, IVF was recommended, and after going back through the GP to tick all the boxes for NHS funded IVF, we are back at Care Fertility with the same treatment plan provided to us at our first appointment and I am currently in the first week of taking medication.

Private tests in June 2022, received NHS confirmation of funded IVF treatment in November 2022, now starting IVF, so it’s felt like a very quick turnaround to me.

@UserL95 I would pay just for the ultrasound scan which presumably comes with someone being able to say all looks okay or not. It's not required for you to proceed through for referral to NHS fertility clinic but it will give you peace of mind. I had one right at the beginning of TTC but I only waited about 8 weeks on the NHS. I would also try calling for cancellations; 52 weeks is ridiculous.

Once you have your day 3 and 21 bloods, your partners SA and you've both had an STI check, you'll be referred to a fertility clinic. As the other person said, I found wait times really good. We got referred in late Jan, could have started IVF in June with various consultations and a hycosy in-between those months. I fell pregnant naturally in the May. Oh I did also have a private AMH test as I was 32 - that was £110 in London. I think some way down the line into arranging IVF, the NHS will do it for you though. They'll also do plenty of scans pre-starting IVF etc and ultimately you can't change your follicle count or your AMH so whilst it's good to know, you sound like you want to get going with all this anyway, so you don't need to know that to sort of build a timeline. My partner wanted to wait a bit and then when my AMH was a bit low, we sped everything up. As it happened, we didn't need it.

Best of luck! The NHS were really good in my experience, but it does vary by area. Oh and ALWAYS pester for cancellations. I skipped a 5 month queue - be polite but assertive. X

I had a private transvaginal ultrasound done by and obstetrician/gynaecologist (she was my regular gynaecologist for other things too). It cost £350 in 2020. I think the key is to find out who is going to not only conduct the scan but talk through the results with you. My ob/gyn was able to check the health of my uterus, and my ovaries, she even counted every follicle (I have poly cystic ovaries), I spoke to someone on the NHS latterly and she said it was really unusual for an ob/gyn to go into that level of detail. It was worth every penny.

Create near Birmingham airport

How old are you OP? 12 months isn't a long time in TTC terms unless you are over 36....most couples will conceive within 24 months

We had some private tests done in early 2021 (relunctant to use nhs during covid as felt they had enough going on!). Ours were done through nurture fertility and at the higher end price wise but consultant reviewed.

The tests yielded no obvious answer so due to the unexplained fertility the consultant said we would qualify for nhs ivf and urged us to have the free go first! She said she could write a letter for our gp with the results and treatment recommendation which would effectively bypass the need for nhs testing and go straight to ivf where wait times were quite reasonable.

As it happened we conceived whilst waiting for the letter! But my point is the testing carried out although more expensive was valid for nhs purposes, I would factor this into your decision.