Private IVF clinics in Manchester

[Ivfunicorn]

Hi all,

I’ve had an icsi ivf cycle at St Mary’s and a failed fresh transfer. I’m lucky enough to have frozen embryos for further transfers but I want to transfer my embryos to a private clinic. I find St Mary’s so hard to deal with, and I need to feel more in control.

I’ve looked at the hefa stats for local clinics and I’ve spoken to St Mary’s about the logistics of moving my embryos. What I want to know is what is anyone’s experience of any private clinics around Manchester? Are they pleasant to deal with? Did they communicate with you well? Were you happy with your treatment? Would you go back to it if you needed more treatment?

I’ve found St Mary’s a really difficult experience and made an emotional process even more difficult.

Thanks.

Hi @Ivfunicorn, very sorry I haven't anything to share with you but i have just started a short protocol with ICSI at St Mary's - would you mind me asking what the difficulties were that you have experienced? Did you pay or was it NHS? Ill keep an eye on this thread for the advice you receive too!

Best of luck for your next cycle 🍀 xx

Hi, my issues are mainly around communication. My cycle there is NHS. I found staff didn’t explain processes very well and didn’t seem to respond well to me asking questions. It seems to lack empathy and I’ve found infertility so hard this lack really affected me. Due to the wait to see anyone following the failed fresh transfer we’re looking at Dec/Jan until we could do a FET. I just can’t wait this long to even speak to anyone.

Best of luck to you aswell.

Hi @Ivfunicorn I'm in Manchester and had 2 cycles of icsi at st Mary's back in 2013 and 2014 (yes it took that long for 2 cycles 😭) I moved to Care Manchester for my 3rd cycle and would highly recommend them. I was still an NHS patient then and the treatment was so much better than st Mary's. I found all the waiting and poor communication at st Mary's really distressing. My 3rd cycle worked and I have a 3 year old. I've since gone back for more treatment privately but sadly no success yet. Care are still as great as I remember. I've also got friends who have had treatment at Manchester fertility and they were very happy there. Maybe give them both a call and see if they have any upcoming open evenings. Good luck

You too @IVFaugust2018

Thanks @NoCupcakesOrCocktails did you have NHS treatment at Care Manchester? I've looked at the HFEA results and Care is about 15% higher than St Mary's but I assumed that was because St Mary's treat NHS patients! I get 3 cycles from my CCG so maybe at St Mary's for a few years if your experience is anything to go by 😢

@IVFaugust2018 yeah I had 3 funded cycles and my third one was at care. I had quite a poor response at st Mary's. I've had much better cycles at care in terms of numbers of embryos and getting to blastocyst. Not sure if that's just luck as in terms of drugs they haven't done much different. I do really rate the embryologists at care. We have had much higher fertilisation rates there.

Obviously my experience at st Mary's was a long time ago so it might be worth looking for more up to date info. Back when I was a patient they struggled to fit everyone in so you had to ring and request treatment. They could then turn you down 3 times. So I was referred in sept 2012. Finally had my first ivf in July 2013, I had an early miscarriage at 6 weeks and my follow up wasn't until the November. I then requested treatment dec, jan and feb. I was accepted in feb and when I went for my baseline scan they weren't happy with the thickness of my lining so said I needed a hysteroscopy. I then made a nuisance of myself and managed to get the hysteroscopy done in May. They then said I had to request treatment again and could be rejected again 3 times. At that point I was completely fed up and complained and they allowed me to start cycle 2 in June. Cycle 2 was a disaster and I moved to Care as I couldn't face anymore at st Mary's. Sorry for the epic post I have heard some people had good experiences at st Mary's and had treatment much quicker so fingers crossed for you

@IVFaugust2018 sorry just realised it might not be clear from my post that I did have nhs treatment at care! I think most CCGs have contracts with the private clinics so you can chose to have nhs treatment elsewhere

Hi @NoCupcakesOrCocktails thanks for sharing, I didn't realise I had an option of elsewhere. We were just referred to St Mary's by the GP and so grateful to have funded cycles I didn't think anything of it even though the rates are much lower than other clinics.

That being said, I think my experience has been different to yours already, referred in Feb, testing in March, first consultant apt in May where we were told we'd need ICSI. Next apt was July where the treatment protocol was confirmed and all of the consent forms completed with treatment starting August. Depending on the outcome of this cycle, I'll look at moving to Care due to the better results - what did you do to request the treatment move?

Thanks so much for sharing xx

@IVFaugust2018 yes that sounds much better than my experience! Moving clinics is relatively easy. If I'm remembering right it's a case of asking your gp to refer you to Care or whichever clinic you want to go to. I started the process by ringing Care and telling them I wanted to move. They then checked my CCG had a contract with them and told me to ask my gp to do the referral. From that phone call I had started my 3rd cycle less than 8 weeks later! Hopefully though you won't need to move, keeping everything crossed that it works first time for you

Thanks @NoCupcakesOrCocktails very much appreciated xx

The hewitt centre has a site in knutsford - their results are impressive.