Aria, care, create or Guys?

[Janice60]

Hi, my partner and I are planning to do private IVF after 6 months trying. We narrowed down a few in London. Does anyone have any recommendations about these facilities? (We are new to this area and a bit clueless)

Aria: we noticed aria is new but the reviews seem good.
create: attended the seminar and seemed very information but unsure about the reviews we read online.
care: the reviews are ok but the HEFA stats stated it’s was more expensive.
guys: we both prefer to have treatment in a hospital however the rate seems low for guys.

just wonder if you have any thoughts / experience? Thank you!

@Janice60 Hi - I went with Create as I was looking for a clinic that specialises in low ovarian reserve. I also suffer with endometriosis and adenomysosis.

The clinic in St Paul's was near my work which took away a lot of stress for appointments. The staff were all lovely and I felt in really safe hands.

Everything was thoroughly explained, we were only given a 10% chance of success but I am currently 13 weeks pregnant and incredibly grateful to the team.

I think research what your fertility needs are and what clinics specialise in those areas. I do think location is important too as there are a lot of scans and appointments to attend.

Wishing you lots of luck xxx

Hi

Not on your list but I went to Kings in London. 1st round on the NHS no success but second round resulted in the birth of my son. I was 36 at the time of getting pregnant and also had low AMH/AFC so was a bit of a miracle. They do both NHS and private and it is a very modern clinic. All the doctors and nurses I met were very professional but kind. They are also very reasonably priced.

I also wanted to say that it can be tempting to put a lot of weight on the success rates published of clinics but it is worth noting that those with lower rates are probably just more likely to accept people with a lower chance of success (maybe because they are NHS or for other reasons). Those with high rates of success may not accept patients they do not think will be successful. Not sure if i have explained that very well- hopefully that makes sense?!

Good luck x

Hey. Currently in similar position of looking for a clinic. You have similar list to me: Aria, create/abc, guys but I also have Kings.

Create/abc - some of the reviews about not being responsive worry me but seem good for pricing.

Aria - is new and hardly any reviews

Guys - seem a little expensive.

I think I'm leaning towards kings. They seem very reasonable for price and good success rates.

Be nice to see what others suggest?

Good luck in your journey x

Hi Scarlett868, thank you so much for your reply and big congratulations!! Do you mind me asking if you did the mild ivf or normal ivf? I work in the city so the location is definitely an advantage. How do you find the online consultation? Is it ok if my partner and I do fertility MOT somewhere else and change to other clinic afterwards? Did you stick with Create from the beginning? Thank you and congratulations again! :)

Hi @Janice60 I don’t know about any of the other clinics but I had IVF/ICSI treatment with Create/ABC last year, successful first round which resulted in my son 🙏🏻
I had mild IVF.

May I ask how old you are? If you’re under 37 and meet the criteria you can go with ABC. Also do you know what your fertility issues are?

Hi Jane1284, thanks for your reply! I definitely focus a lot on the success rates! I did some researches about kings after your post. It’s a little too far from work and home for me but I have put that on my list too. Thank you for the suggestion!

I read some negative reviews about the reception. I know we shouldn’t focus on that but may I ask about your experience? Thank you!

Hello, thank you for your reply. My partner and I are thinking doing the MOT with aria / create. We will be away for a couple months for Xmas so may have to do another one again when we are back. Have you been in touch with any of the clinics? What do you feel about them? I attended the create seminar and it’s really informative. Good luck! :)

Hi K2012, I’m not under 37, so we are not eligible for ABC. I had my blood test with NHS and it’s normal. I also use clear blue every month and tracked my LH level. It’s also within 4+2.

My partner did a male fertility test with a home kit we bought online last month and it showed low count. I’m thinking if that is the root cause. So I’m keen to get a MOT done to find out what went wrong.

@Janice60 thank you so much! It's been a long journey to get here... honestly didn't think it would happen for us.

I did mild ivf as they suggested it would be the best option. I did 3 cycle package to try and bank some embryos.
I think we got a total of 5 embryos/blasts from those 3 cycles. I had a fresh transfer of 1 so have 4 frozen.

I did do an nhs cycle at Homerton hospital previously which was a horrific experience!! I wish I had just gone to create straight away and not wasted 18 months.

Defo the location is huge. When we are at Homerton it was such a pain to get to and to even speak to anyone on the phone.

Create did say that any tests I had done on the nhs they would use those results to save us money as long as they were in the last 6 months (could be worng on that timing(. So I would assume that you could do the same if you had tests elsewhere. Xxx

@Janice60 I would go with a clinic that is easy to get to from your work. The last thing you need is any additonal stress. Convenience is very important if you have to go for multiple scans. I only ever had a couple of scans before triggering and work were very good with letting me have time off for appointments so Kings was convenient for me.

I never had issues with reception. Whenever I sent an email they were helpful and responded quickly.

I believe create are meant to specialise in those with low AMH/AFC and if things didn't work out with Kings I was going to go to them.

Definitely reccommend having an appointment with a clinic who will do the initial tests and scans and let you and your partner know their thoughts on the next steps. xx

Hi @Janice60

Okay. Have you had day 1, 3 and 21 and AMH blood test done? You can get this done at GP it’ll save you some money and I believe your partner can have a sperm analysis down through GP it’ll also save you some money (I think ABC charged us about £100-140 for a spent analysis)

I was told by my clinic to start taking 400 mcg folic acid and vitamin D daily before starting the treatment.

Thank you for your info! I haven’t done the day, 1, 3 and 21 and AMH test yet. The NHS GP only scheduled the LH and FSH blood test for me. I’m still in the NHS IVF queue but we decided to explore the private option to speed things up.

do you think it will make a big difference if we do the MOT in a different clinic? As we are going away for a couple months, we wanted to get the MOT done now so we can think about our plans / options when we are away. Thank you!

i have been taking the pregncare original tablets for a few weeks. Is that what you have too? Thank you so much for your info!

@Janice60 I believe FSH and LH is a part of the day 1 and 3 test (they need to be done on first day of your period then day 3 and day 21 is to see if you have ovulated. You can ask your GP to get these done and also general blood tests like thyroid levels, kidney, liver and hemoglobin. I had all these done at GP and sent the clinic a copy. They should be within 3 months of starting treatment.

I’ve been told IVF through the NHS can take years so it’s good that you’re going private.

I don’t really know as I had all blood tests done at GP and AMH test was done at my first IVF clinic but it was too expensive there so I moved to ABC (ABC charged half the price of my first clinic)

Yes pregnacare original is fine just check that they contain 400mcg folic acid and vitamin D.

Hi Scarlet868, thank you! It’s always encouraging to hear good story! :) I think aria and create are close to work for me (at least I could get there by tube). May I ask if you have any issues of your AMH or LH?

i also favor their mild Ivf option as I don’t want to mess up my body too much.

i don’t mind doing another tests when we return from holiday but we certainly wouldn’t want to waste time unnecessarily. Thank you!

Thanks Jane1284. I will probably stick with those clinics in central / city as I realize I would need quite a lot of visits to clinics. Thank you for the info. I still have kings on my list! :)

@Janice60 Glad to be able to help :)

Yes, I have low amh (6). I am 36 for reference.

I liked the idea of mild too. On my nhs round I was put on a high dose as they don't really tailor for different needs. That round ended with 1 follicle and no egg inside!!

I also found when I had my initial scans done with Create they were more thorough and explained other conditions that I had. The nhs did not explain anything and said I had unexplained infertility. Which is obviously not the case lol xxx

Don’t go to Create. They were an absolute nightmare. They never answer the phone and when they do no one ever rings you back. I had a terrible experience with them. I’ve just moved to Aria. You don’t realise how bad Create really is until you go to another clinic.

@Penguin77 how have you found Aria a few months on? We are considering them for IVF but don't know anyone who has used them.