IVF private round HELP!

[Imisscoffee2021]

Hello! I've just had my paperwork through for a consultation at Care Woking to have IVF for MFI, but although when I asked in a webinar with them what constitutes one round/cycle of IVF and they said a fresh transfer plus any frozen transfers until you are pregnant or they run out, I've now seen a payment list where frozen embryo transfers are listed at about £2200 each!

The IVF itself is going to be about £3500, plus another £2000 for ICSI, plus all the scans and consultation fees and finally about £2000 for meds. I thought this all included the transfer of any and all embryos we manage to get from one egg retrieval, fertilisation and culture, but it appears its all for one fresh transfer which just seems like such an expensive gamble!

Does anyone have experience of private IVF or IVF at Care Fertility and can tell me if this is correct?

Hi. I'm not with Care but that sounds about right. Our frozen transfers cost similar and then meds are on top. Ivf is very expensive 😔 if you have left over embryos there is a storage fee after a certain time too.

Have you looked into whether you're eligible for nhs funding?

Thank you! That's so disappointing, this private round of IVF was already wiping our savings, and we at least thought we'd get all embryos transferred on one round like they advise on NHS.
I am eligible for two rounds and am concurrently going through the NHS referral, we were just trying to fit a private round in as I'm going to be 35 in Feb and am trying to hit the slightly younger age bracket as we've had such bad luck so far and trying to optimise things for us now.

They would only transfer a maximum of 2 embryos, but mostly it’s single embryo transfers now, on NHS and self funding cycles.
www.hfea.gov.uk/treatments/explore-all-treatments/decisions-to-make-about-your-embryos/

Double check your ccg policy and see that they allow private treatment. Two full rounds on the nhs is pretty good.

We got one fresh cycle and transfer. We got 3 embryos but had to self-fund frozen transfers.

Yes that's sound right. You'd get one transfer as part of the initial package and any frozen transfers after that incur an additional cost. This caught us out massively as I ended up needing a freeze all due to OHSS on the first egg collection so had to pay the extra £2k (although slightly discounted as it was a freeze all due to medical reasons)

Oh and £7.5k per one round is about industry standard although your ICSI price is really expensive

Have you had a look at ABC they are much much cheaper

Thanks everyone, I'm a bit in shock as I asked this specific question at the webinar and was told very clearly its fresh transfer then all frozen if unsuccessful, with another stim/egg collection etc being another new round.
My CCG allows private thankfully and you don't lose NHS rounds, so we've decided to go for a multi cycle package where frozen blastocyst transfer is completely included. If we get pregnant first round and have a birth we will have overspent but at this stage I don't mind, I'll just be happy to finally be a mum.
Thanks for info :)

I think it’s a terminology issue. A ‘round of IVF’ would be classed as doing Stims and egg collection - if you got ten embryos and transferred them all separately you wouldn’t say you’ve done ten rounds of IVF. It would still be one round.

but from a costing perspective everything isn’t included in one round. Hence the confusion. The costs seem pretty similar to my clinic and same process about paying extra for frozen transfers.

best of luck!

@Imisscoffee2021 To echo what the others have said, yes, one 'round' in medical terms is one egg collection and transfer of any embryos resulting from that collection, but in finance terms each subsequent transfer (after the first fresh one) is a new/separate cost.

IVF is flipping expensive! I didn't go this route so don't know the full details, but I think there are some finance packages that are for multiples 'rounds' (using the medical terminology there) and they cover all transfers within that 'round'. I think Access Fertility? Worth a look - but the initial outlay is higher as you're paying for lots of treatment upfront.

Thank you :) I'm glad I pried into this a bit more, but we've recalibrated and can afford to go for a multi cycle package. I'm really reluctant to wait for my two rounds on the NHS as I live in a super populated area and am expecting a long wait, and trying to get a round in before I turn 35 if we can. We have money saved that was to be towards a deposit, but we were wanting to buy to have a family so using that to make a family is something I can get behind 100%. It looks like it'll be £8500 for ivf plus icsi and then the initial tests and meds separately, so looking at £10 to 12 grand to be safe. We have MFI and know the cause so hoping with ICSI to give us a helping hand we will be successful, as my tests have all come back fine and dandy.

@Imisscoffee2021 have you considered going to a private clinic that takes NHS funded patients?
It maybe something worth while looking into. When I was searching for a clinic I called around and asked what the current wait time is and made a decision based on that and the clinics results.

@bellwells I've chosen a clinic that does take nhs patients, but I'm still in the early days of nhs referral. I couldn't get a hycosy appointment this month on the nhs as they're full so need to wait another cycle, and because we have MFI and my husbands low sperm count means we need IVF, I won't even be using my fallopian tubes so I think it's just a test you have to tick off to get funding. It's going to be at least 3 or 4 months before getting funding at this rate so because in my CCG you can have NHS even if you've had private rounds I thought it give it a go as waiting more time feels like it would drive me round the bend!

@Imisscoffee2021 good luck. The only thing I wanted to say was do double check if there are long waiting times. There may be and in some areas there are but I made the mistake of assuming it would be a wait and there was no waiting list at all once I got referred for my infertility assessment. In our CCG I lost an NHS round because I had already done a private. It all worked out fine for us in the end but it's worth checking wait times rather than assuming. Best way to check is to ask on Mumsnet for anyone recently going via your CCG (can see you are already on a group) or see if there is a relevant FB group x

Hi,
some have packages. CARE offer refund package and a multicycle package. For my second round if ivf we went with multi cycle and it has saved us a lot of money. We paid 6k and i managed to get 4 embryos on my first retrieval cycle and transferred a fresh one unfortunately lost it at 18 weeks. But financially we arent stressed as future transfers (3 embryos)+ another cycle of ivf are included in the 6K we paid. So i think thats pretty good considering what others have had to pay. We Only need to pay for medication.