Single cycle or multi cycle package?

[PurpleLake]

Hi everyone

I'm about to start my IVF journey and currently feeling overwhelmed about the information out there.

My clinic have recommended a single cycle which costs about £6k excluding meds.

I've been looking into Access Fertility and Gaia to give some stability from a financial perspective, are they generally a good idea to use?

I was also told by my clinic that the consultant would have recommended a multi cycle treatment plan but only recommended a single cycle. They are going to check with the consultant but I was a bit confused. Is single/multi cycle usually part of the consultant recommendation?

I don't want to overcomplicate things but also want to make sure I'm not going to end up in a difficult situation financially.

Any advice is much appreciated, thanks!

How old are you and what is your reason for doing IVF? That could guide how many cycles you may need.

@PurpleLake I debated this with my husband after our failed NHS cycle. Access Fertility were lovely to speak with and not pushy. The testing to get approved wasn’t as intense as I thought it would be but we ultimately didn’t go with them for two reasons - I really wanted to get my cycle done asap so was under time pressure to get going in April as I had my 40th birthday in June and it was March when I was organising. I also felt that if things didn’t work with my current clinic, I might want to go to a clinic in Spain, Greece or Prague. It looks like this cycle has worked. They are lovely and have heard some great stories of their aftercare etc but before signing make sure you read and understand the T&Cs x

@sirensong 33 and have been trying to concieve for 12 cycles with no luck! Had two previous pregnancies that ended in MMC within the past 3 years. My AMH is on the lower end of normal (around 8).

@confused2025 thank you for the advice - that's my only concern in that it really locks you in, but I do like the refund element if it doesn't work out so at least you aren't out of pocket if it doesn't work out. Choosing a clinic has been hard but we are continuing with the clinic we've had our previous tests with as we trust the consultant and we can get started next cycle. It's a satellite clinic though so does mean travel into London for egg collection/transfer!

Yes @PurpleLake the refund element is really good - for my age, it would have been 50%. My AMH was 7.5. They are very good with communication and do respond quickly and if you are happy to stay with your clinic for a potential further 3 rounds, then it could be very good. The other thing to point out is that you will have to transfer all blasts before moving on to the next round of cycle - just in case you were thinking of dipstick/blast banking x

*duo Stim not dipstick

@confused2025 that's the bit I'm struggling with, as I haven't had treatment before so I don't know! I've also only been to the satellite clinic and not the main one. I don't want to delay though which I'd need to do if I want to visit the main site first or even explore other clinics. Not that straightforward is it!

@PurpleLakemaybe worth talking with Access and see what you think. I would also look at the recently updated HFEA results for your clinic and look at the results for under and over 38. My NHS clinic the stats were 7% for over 38 so I had very little chance. My new clinic are very successful with my age group and the difference is like day and night. All parts of this journey make you question yourself, but I think if you have a good gut feel it is normal a really good indication x

@confused2025 thank you - looks like the results are from 2022 still and they are fairly similar. So hard to work it all out!

Yeah that’s them updated I think in the last month or so - due to the dataset and live birth rates they won’t have it in real time but you can definitely see trends. Really hope everything works out for you @PurpleLakex