Going private for fertility treatment - a few questions

[Beaverfeaver2]

We are looking to go private to be treated for infertility after diagnosis of Pcos and long waiting list at our local clinic (John Radcliffe hospital)

We have the opportunity to go private and I was wondering what the next steps are...

Do I need to go back to my doc and ask for a private referral?

Can I refer myself to private?

How do I pick a private clinic?

What other benefits are there to going private other than timescale?

Can anyone recommend a good ferility clinic in the Oxfordshire/Buckinghamshire area?

What sorts of costs might we expect?

If you are going private then you can contact them yourself. However if you've had any investigative tests done on NHS it would be helpful if you could get copies of the results from your Dr surgery or you may well need to redo them but then also pay.

We are at Bourn Hall in Colchester, their parent clinic is in Cambridge. Good luck x

I had 4 private cycles. Then it was around £3500-£5000 cycle think is more now. I was referrd by Gp. Research carefully clinics and their success rates ( live birth rates), treatments available e.g do you prefer natural Ivf or not, what kind of testing and treatments they do, etc etc. do plenty research.

Good luck

Something you may wish to consider is using one of the (better) london fertility clinics, but having your scans/bloods done in a different one local to you with results emailed to your London clinic.

This way you get the advantages of both the higher success rates of the London clinic, and the convenience of not having to travel for scans (only for EC and ET).

I did this and whilst it was expensive, the cost was well worth it for the preservation of my sanity.

Be aware that not all clinics allow you to have bloods Joe scans at other clinics

We were fortunate that our GP surgery allowed us to do them there, even though we stated it was for private IVF. They then scanned the info over to our clinic.

Be aware that not all clinics allow you to have bloods Joe scans at other clinics

No, but clinics with the best success rates in the country do. Also, the flexibility to fit around my needs is something I expect when paying for private care and hence was a very important part of my choice of clinic.

I get very cross with the whole socialist NHS idea that you get what you're given and are just expected to be happy with it. I expect more, and think it is money well spent to obtain this.

I would be very wary of having your GP refer you too - I deliberately have kept all record of my IVF off my medical records, as they really aren't as private as we all like to think they are. If you ever have to make a claim in clinical negligence (for any reason) for example, or find yourself involved in a custody battle, your medical records will become common knowledge amongst all parties involved. Also, although the care.data scheme seems to have been shelved for the time being, I am far from convinced that it will remain so for the whole of my life - the thought of such sensitive information being sold to the highest bidder really fills me with horror and, again, I am happy to pay to prevent this from happening.