£1000 satellite/collab fee. Is that right?

[aandp2025]

Hi everyone,

myself and my partner Amy tried IVF with a local private clinic here in Belfast just over a year ago. Unfortunately Amy has low ovarian reserve, and were basically told not to go ahead with the other cycles due to the percentage of conception being so low.
Our next step now is the donor egg route, and the clinic are trying to charge us a collab fee (the language has now turned into a "registration fee") of £1000 to do the referral to their partner clinic in Spain.

The fee started out as a choice, here is what's included:

"To use TFP's collaboration service with Spain, the fee is £1,000 for the first cycle, and £900 for any subsequent cycles (including FETs). Listed below are the services included in the collaboration fee:
• Any monitoring scans & bloods (we follow the treatment plan provided by the primary clinic and book these in accordingly).
• 1 hr counselling session
• Prescriptions written by the TFP doctor and ordered on your behalf. We will arrange Collection or the postage of this for you to bring to a local pharmacy to purchase medication.
• We are here as a guide to help co-ordinate your treatment. Your primary clinic will always be your treating clinic and make all clinical decisions, but we can help with communication & planning where required
• Administration duties performed by TFP staff, normally covered in the service fee per appointment
• Administeration of Decapeptyl/Prostap injection if required • Pregnancy blood/urine test
• Pregnancy Scan
• Oestradiol
• Progesterone

Please note: Some additional costs may be incurred at the request of your treating clinic. Below are the TFP prices:
• Baseline scan: £180
• TSH £50
• Semen Analysis: £195
• Saline cavity scan: £460
• Compulsory blood tests: Hep B, Hep C and HIV 1 & 2 £280
• Syphilis: £50
• Endometrial Scratch: £310"

I was wondering if all of this seems necessary, because to us, it seems very expensive and excessive. Not only is it £1000, but if we choose to go with a package of 3 blastocysts, then each time after that will be an extra £900 charge each time! Really? Is this value for money, because it feels like a con to us to be quite frank.

It’s a bit of a con, you can go direct to a Spanish clinic of your choice.
They will have patient coordinators who will help you with arrangements and do those blood tests etc much cheaper.
Which clinic is their partner clinic? You could just contact them, or another clinic if you prefer.
If you’re in Belfast you can get the scans at Ultrasound Direct on the Lisburn Road open 7 days a week.
There are several private GP services where you can get the pregnancy blood tests.
Go to a place with direct flights so Alicante probably your best bet in Spain (loads of clinics there), also a couple in Malaga.

Thank you so much for the reply!

Unfortunately, we have not had a pleasant experience with TFP, even from the very first video call we had before the failed IVF the first time. But they seem to have a monopoly here, with no one else really to turn to for advice (I know of other clinics in Belfast, but since our history is with TFP, we feel obliged to stick with them.)

In regards to their partner clinic, that's where things have also gotten messy. U til recently they were contracted with IVF-Spain, but have now changed to Clinica Tambre. This clinic has a branch in Madrid, and TFP said they now partnered with them die to Tambre opening a clinic in Alicante. But, no matter how much research we have done, we cannot find a single thing on Clinic Tambre Alicante, outside of a small comment in an article stating that it's "opening 2025". We actually suspect it's not even open yet! All of the documentation sent through to us from TFP is regarding their Madrid branch, and it's just another unpleasant and anxious thing we are being hot with from this clinic.

On top of this potential £2800 collab fee, and previous bad experiences, we really want to turn our backs to TFP and go it alone, but that is super scary, which we are trying to overcome.

Request your notes from TFP.
If they are uncooperative it’s not ideal but not a barrier to having treatment elsewhere.

I have had treatment in the UK and ultimately successful donor egg treatment in Spain. I contacted Spanish clinics direct.

When you have bad experiences with a clinic and the trust is gone don’t stay with them would be my advice. I suggest you reach out to IVF Life, IVI, Instituto Bernabeu all in Alicante and see what they say.

I have heard good things about Tambre if you did want to reach out to them too but try some of the others first and see what information you can find.

I have had very limited contact with TFP in Belfast and found them absurdly obstructive.

That's so good to hear that someone has also had a bad experience with TFP! We were starting to wonder if it was us, especially since there does not seem to be any bad reviews for the place.
We will absolutely going it alone, and are beginning our research on where to send through a request for a consultation.

That is fantastic news that you were successful with egg donation!! It would be great to hear your story! Or even what clinic you were successful with?

I would say have a look on this forum at this Donor Conception board and the general ‘Infertility’ boards.

Have a think about whether you are set on Spain or would want to try somewhere like Czech Republic or Greece.

Spain was my first choice and obviously I’m glad we went there but people have good things to say about those countries too. From NI I would say Spain is easier travel wise.

Also, it sounds like you have had one failed IVF cycle - a reputable clinic will want to see your results from that to guide you as to whether to have a try with them with own eggs or go straight to donor. Some Spanish clinics do a guarantee programme of own eggs then donor egg if it doesn’t work but if you are quite young they might say just try own egg first.

All Spanish clinics will want up to date blood tests from both partners before treatment starts, you may like to have a few face to face consultations with some clinics in the same area and then get the blood tests done in the one you like before returning home. They will possibly explore things that your NI clinic did not. In my opinion the small number of clinics and long waiting lists in NI mean people don’t generally get the best service.

We will absolutely have a look, and correct, we have had failed IVF last year.

We have been in contact this week with TFP and gotten our medical notes from them so that was good! Quick and painless!

We have been emailing 2 clinics in Spain, and we are pretty set on Alicante due to the price of flights and hotels. It's the cheapest by our calculations.

Our next hurdle now is choosing the clinic! We are talking to IVF-Life and Institudio Bernabeu. Both seem lovely with more or less the same deals and treatments, so now comes the next big decision. Which one haha.