Thinking about IVF, can you recommend a clinic in the London/Surrey/Sussex/Kent area?

[Inshock73]

Hi ladies,

I'm thinking about going for IVF and I'm 40. As far as I'm aware I don't need egg donation and I have a wiling partner so I don't need sperm donation either. I just don't know where to start. Unfortunately I'm not minted and neither is my partner so I need to choose carefully. I am aware there are no guarantees.

Any advice on where to go, where not to go and any success stories especially from older ladies would be great.

Huge thanks x

Hi, we've recently completed a cycle of 'bog standard' IVF at the Nuffield hospital in Woking. We were unexplained. We have been so pleased with every aspect of the treatment from start to finish, all the staff have been great. We paid privately and all in has come to about £6k. This includes £1k which covered taking embryos to blastocyst and also covered the first couple of years of freezing which not everyone requires. I think their full price list is on their website. They get good results - suggest asking them for their most recent success statistics as the ones on the HFEA site I think are still from 2011. The current stats are quite a bit higher.

Do consider distance to clinic though; I work just 10 mins away from our clinic; live about half an hour away, which made the whole process so much easier.

Thanks Moggie, that's really helpful, do you mind if I ask you a couple more questions? What is bog standard IVF? Also and this is really ironic I was offered an appointment there under Paul Curtis? Do you mind me asking were you under him?

Hi, by bog standard IVF I meant not ICSI- (intra cytoplasmic sperm injection) which is more expensive as they have to individually inject a sperm into each egg. Usually done when the problem is on the male side.
My consultant was Mr Riddle but I think they are all equally good and I actually only saw Mr R for my initial consultation- Mr Curtis did my embryo transfer (obviously well as it stuck!) and Mr Brook did my egg collection (but I was under general anaesthetic so didn't really meet him!). Most of the time you see the nurses- often a different one every time but they are all lovely.

One thing to warn you- they have large frames with photo collages of all their babies on the walls as you go up the stairs into the clinic and in reception. It made me quite emotional the first time but in a good way- makes you realise you're in the right place! Think it's good to be prepared to see them though.

I had donor ivf with these guys. I was in my 40s when I started treatment we had three rounds...

hsfc.org.uk/

I now have a beautiful 9 month old daughter (currently squealing and mucking about in her room when she should be napping!)

Dr Geetha Venkat is amazing - and she and her team really care. Give them a ring. They often have open evenings when you can pop along for a no- strings chat.

Btw it's handy if the clinic is convenient to where you work as you may need to pop in often for scans etc

Good luck

Hi Inshock - we're under Paul Curtis at the Woking Nuffield and we've felt really well looked after. I had some fertility investigations through work insurance before we started the full-on treatment and he did all of that. He's very pleasant, takes time to explain, invites questions and discussion and we were really pleased to be able to stay with him for the IVF.
The Nuffield has good published results - you can check out different clinics results on the HFEA website. A friend of mine has just taken a little bundle home after 8 years of trying and she had treatment from Mr Riddle.

I should add that I'm just doing my first IVF cycle, so can't comment personally on success yet, but keeping everything crossed!

Moggie Pocket1 and Purplemeggie thank you so much for your replies, it's so good to hear personal experiences. I had an appt with Paul Curtis and then decided to give it a few more months in the hope I might not need help but I'm going to restart my appts.

Thanks again for your replies, I really appreciate it.

xx

NHS treatment at King's ACU worked for us. King's is one of the longest established IVF clinics in the UK. They do NHS and private treatment.

Just reading over this thread again :) Thank you Hoping I'll look in to Kings.

Purple Have you had a happy ending? I hope it worked x

Hello, we did ICSI, as issues with low motile sperm as well as unexplained on my side, at Woking Nuffield 7 years ago. We now have a wonderful 6 year old - it worked first time.
We also froze 4 embryos from that first cycle, returned a few years later to try them but sadly they didn't defrost well. They weren't great embryos before freezing, so unsurprising really.
We saw Mr Brook but Mr Riddle carried out egg collection and implantation.
Good luck x

Oh, and we travelled up from the New Forest as Woking had the best rates of success within a 2 hour drive for my age at that point.

And agreed with moggle - the gallery of babies was a shock when we first arrived, but gave us great hope.

Thank you News reading everyones stories makes me so emotional :) I'm going to go with Nuffield. My GP was pushing for me to go with their recommendation but I've since found out that's normal as they want the money to come in to their pct, also I've googled the Dr at their recommended hospital and he received quite a severe warning from the GMC and has quite a few negligent stories attached to him. I'm excited but very very nervous of the treatment and also keeping my emotions in check.

I will be travelling from the other side of Surrey so have about an hour's drive but worth it for the right place.

I've already braced myself for the photos :) I'm seeing an acupuncturist at the moment who specialises in fertility and her clinic is covered in baby photos too.

Hi Inshock, I'm doing my first IVF cycle at King's they have a great success rate, as hoping says, they're the longest established in the country but even my GP was wary as lots of people have complained about the abrupt manner of the main consultant. We ended up choosing them because a friend was a doctor at the ACU and she was really encouraging about the quality of care and the history of the clinic, and although she warned us about Mr Savvas (she found him difficult to work with), she also confirmed that he's one of the best in the business. She basically said that even if he grates a little, he'll do the job right!

As it turns out, Mr Savvas is our main consultant and I've never had a problem with him, or any of the other consultants. He's a bit short on bed-side manner, but he's very straightforward, happy answering the same question eight ways and generally really supportive.

I'd definitely recommend the ACU at King's, but I completely agree with moggle that you should take distance into consideration. We moved mid-treatment, going from 6 minutes to about 30 minutes by train. (Not the best decision commute-wise!)

Hi EmmaGH just read your post! How are things progressing for you? I hope it's all going well and I hope you read this and give an update! :) Thank you for your insight in to Kings, I'm going to check them out too.