West Midlands/Oxford Clinics

[JambobJ]

Hi All,

Thank you for taking the time to read a newbie's long thread And apologies if there is a thread already like this one out there.
I'm looking for advice on clinics people have used in the West Midlands area.
Why did you choose that clinic? Were you happy with the treatment you received? Did you opt for any packages? Did you choose a payment package?

My husband and I have already had one (failed) round of NHS funded IVF at Birmingham Women's Hospital. We thought what we received was great but afterwards thought they could have done more really to tailor the treatment we received. We felt like we were given a set treatment and that was it. We finished treatment officially (done my preg test) on the 11th Feb and have a consultant review appointment on the 4th April - this is something I had to ask for!
We were more than happy to go back to the Women's for self funded IVF but we would like the option of receiving more tests and tailored treatment. We have shortlisted 4 clinics and will be attending information evenings at each of them in the coming weeks:

• Create Fertility (Birmingham)
• The Priory Fertility Clinic (Birmingham)
• Care Fertility (Birmingham)
• Oxford Fertility (Oxford, but have satellite clinics) Has anyone been to any of these clinics? What are your thoughts?

Many thanks,

Jennie

Hi
I've just waiting to do a frozen transfer with Create Birmingham after an unexpected freeze all ICSI cycle last month

I went to quite a few open evenings before deciding to go with Create - so also went to Priory and Care.

For me I just had a better "feeling" at Create than I did with the others. I also liked the idea of short protocol mild ivf (which is what I had) as I have a history of recurrent miscarriages and ectopics and was worried about the effect of doing long protocol on my already knackered body! They focus on quality not quantity and get the same numbers of fertilised eggs at the end as others doing full ivf although you only take medication for about 10 days compared to weeks.

I did read lots of reviews of all the clinics but to be honest one persons experience is not going to be the same as another and so far my experience has been really positive. They were upfront about costs and did quote estimates before going ahead. There is no waiting lists so you can start straight away.
My total cost so far is circa £7.5k - we took the support package out for £900 which included sedation/blood tests etc as couldn't be bothered with "pay as you go" and obviously ICSI cost £1k. Then storage for my frozen embryos is £1k for 2 years. It's £850 for me to do a frozen transfer as my estrogen levels got too high so couldn't do a fresh transfer. There were no "hidden" costs on top of that. My drugs were around £1k - I could have rung around Asda etc to see if I could have got them cheaper but they use fertility2u and on a Facebook group recently they were found to be cheaper than supermarkets anyway.

My medication has always been very much tailored to my medical circumstances which was good.

I will stay with Create for the 3 frozen embryos we have - if these fail then I would probably look to try the Priory (it's a lot more expensive) or Care (seemed really clinical) just for a different perspective not because Create have necessarily done anything wrong.

X

Also Create offer 2 year funding - interest free loans but Care use a company which you pay a bit more for your treatment but can get up to 100% refunded if you don't end up with a live birth - I wouldn't have been eligible due to ectopics and miscarriages but if I just had unexplained infertility I would definitely have signed up as it helps to reduce the pressure! X