How to choose a fertility clinic?

[Tigerlily99]

Hi there!

I’m coming to the close of my first and only NHS cycle of IVF which is looking to be unsuccessful. I may get one more go at FET but will be private after. To keep myself busy I’ve been looking into private clinics in London where I’m based but am totally confused as to how to choose a clinic! On other threads I’ve seen a lot of people mention CRGH and ARGC but with mixed messages. I’ve looked at the ‘statistics’ on the HFEA website but they are quite old and the places with good stats generally have much smaller numbers of patients than the big NHS units so I’m dubious as to how genuine their good stats are. I’m currently at Queen Charlottes so mulling over staying with them privately or moving as I really felt I was on a conveyor belt there and unless I’m genuinely going to get a better result, I’d rather move somewhere where they might actually explain what’s going on to me (especially if I have to be paying ££). So was thinking of Lister as heard they are quite patient and give a more personalised service.

I’d be very grateful for your experiences on how you chose your fertility clinic. X

Hi - placemarking. Had all my initial tests at CARE but feels like I should make more effort with this choice.

I really liked City when I initially looked around but I work in Marylebone and seems quite useful to be near work for tests and scans and things.

I am up North, so different choices up here, but I used the hfea website and searched a 50 mile radius. I then read through the patient feedback scores and crossed off low scorers, as well as those with bad lab condition reports. Those that were left, I trawled their websites for prices, services offered (some charge extra for things others do for free for example). I also googled the clinic to search for forum posts about them within the last two years. I say "I" because dp leaves me to do stuff like that, but then I shared my findings with him and got him to look through the info. Once we decided on the one we thought we would go for, I emailed them with some questions. The responses were what sealed the deal as they were really prompt and helpful.