Confused about funding

[Bubblegum89]

I have my first appointment at the fertility clinic at Liverpool Women’s hospital. I was referred there by my GP after ttc for a year with no luck and all tests (blood and SA) coming back normal.

I was checking out the website and the actual fertility clinic has parts about how much each thing costs from initial appointment to IVF. It says you can fund privately or by the NHS. The criteria states that you aren’t eligible for NHS funding if you or your partner have a biological child from your current or any past relationship. I have a 9 year old daughter from a previous relationship. Does that mean we will have to pay for absolutely everything? Initial appointment, any extra blood tests etc? My GP referred me as she wants me to have an HSG done to check my tubes. Do I have to pay for that too? I knew I would have to pay for any actual treatment like IVF but I’m confused now as to what else we have to pay for!

Your GP sounds like they will be doing investigations for you (which is great, not all do if you already have a child). Then if it is deemed that ivf is required then yes you will pay for everything from that point ie from very first consultation at ivf clinic. Costs vary depending on the clinic and where you are in the country. Would have been about £8k for one cycle for us (once you add up everything up ie drugs etc), so we went abroad where it cost less than half even once flights and accommodation were included. Good luck.

Yes, usually if you don't qualify for funding (which it doesn't sound like you will) then you will have to pay for everything, blood tests, mess etc but they can usually tell you what this will cost at the beginning and if there are any procedures (like the HSG) which would still be funded

I'd just chip in to say that if you have to pay, you don't need to go where the GP refers you but can choose any clinic you like. It might be worth shopping around to go to a clinic with great success rates.

It sounds as though you will have to pay for the IVF however the tests you may not have to pay for as they are investigations relating to your health - of course I may be wrong. I don’t qualify for NHS funded IVF (for the stupidest of reasons) however I did have all my tests and a HSG undertaken on the NHS. I, like ScottishGirl, am looking at IVF overseas as it is far cheaper than this Country. Sad state of affairs when the Country who pioneered the treatment does not provide at an affordable rate.

We had one funded cycle with the NHS due to where we live. We were referred to an NHS clinic at a hospital who also do private cycles.

First cycle unsuccessful. Second cycle was not funded- but we stuck to the same clinic for continuity as we'd been happy overall with the treatment. ICSI cost in the region of £4.2k, including initial meds prescribed - I don't recall having to pay extra for consultations etc. The extras we paid for were an AMH test (£60), endometrial scratch (£200), embryo glue (£120 ish?) and then maybe another £300 ish for extra menopur, fragmin injections, progesterone etc. All in all I think it came within £5k and was successful.

The clinic gave us the basic costs upfront and also told us about any extra charges we would incur, I hope that would be the same for you.