Choosing a fertility clinic was overwhelming for us — I made something to help, got immersed in the details and would like to share

[OneMintQuail]

Hi everyone,

My wife (33) and I (33) are currently going through ICSI at NHS King’s Fertility. We had 30 eggs collected, which eventually became 2 viable embryos. Our first transfer failed in October, and we have one 4BB left.

Because the clinic labs close over Christmas, we couldn’t go ahead with a second transfer as quickly as we hoped. It really crushed my wife — those waiting periods feel endless when you’re already carrying so much emotionally. We started looking into a private egg collection as a back-up, partly just to feel like we were still moving forward.

When I began comparing private clinics, I realised how incredibly hard it is to make sense of everything. I used the HFEA website (which is the source of truth for most clinic data), but it felt clunky and quite restrictive. Reviews also felt so subjective — helpful for some things, but not if the person’s situation isn’t similar to yours. Even friends’ recommendations didn’t feel relevant unless their circumstances matched ours.

Out of all that, because of my job I ended up creating something to help us make clearer comparisons. I shared it with a couple of Mumsnet users on here in different threads who were asking about what clinics were worth looking at / peoples experiences etc, and a few people said they actually found it helpful. So I thought it might be worth posting it properly here, as it's been of great help to us and some of our friends (Also given that it's a community based idea).

It's evolved somewhat from it's inception and is now a "public facing" platform which is starting to help others outside of the original group. So, if you’re looking at changing clinic or trying to compare or get a deeper understanding of the one you're using then here's the link - Seedling

All the primary data is taken from the HFEA site across every clinic in the UK (x198). The secondary data is from every review platform linked to those clinics (such as Google, Trustpilot, fertility network). Thirdly, the additive layer of cohort data is based on the anonymised contributing users.

Hopefully it can be of use to you too perhaps. Anything you share is completely secure & anonymised.

For what it's worth our experience with the doctors at King’s has been brilliant — everyone has been kind, gentle and incredibly informative. We’ve only had a couple of moments where availability meant we had to wait an extra two weeks, which doesn’t sound like much, but when you’re in the thick of treatment it feels huge. We had a consultation with IVI London which went well and looks like we will be using them for a mid "NHS break" egg collection.

Sending a wealth of positive vibes to you all and if I can be any help with regards to the mentioned tool please feel free to message.

Will

@OneMintQuail hey, just be careful with using private providers during NHS funding as I think people posted it makes you ineligible for NHS IVF if you've ever gone private. Worth checking whether this applies if you're mid treatment as well so you don't find yourself with a massive bill from Kings if they found out (although I'm not sure how they could)

@zirafica thanks for mentioning. That is a very valid point that we did check and were told that it was ok for us to do. I believe you’re allowed to do one private collection (that is what kings told us). I can’t comment on other clinics. Candidly I can’t work out how they would know but better to play it safe as you said!

@zirafica we were told we could get private treatment and it wouldn’t affect nhs treatment, as long as there were no stored embryos.

@OneMintQuail thanks for sharing and good luck with your next transfer!

@OneMintQuail what factors led you to likely do a round at IVI rather than doing a private round at King's?

@sirensong Initially it was because we had a 3 week gap between our negative test and the formal follow up from Kings so we started looking to see what else was out there so we could feel like we were making progress whilst we waited.

I started to drill into the numbers for our specific needs and IVI was coming out on top (Kings was also doing well). We both have a strange sense of loyalty to Kings and are still very open to doing the private round with them should the timing work for us 🙂

This is so helpful! I ended up with a massive spreadsheet I had to do myself :)

To confirm we have done 1 NHS and 1 private round with King's. We live in a generous area for IVF funding (3 cycles under 40, any previous cycles count towards the NHS amount offered), so by doing the private round we have only 'given up' one of our NHS rounds.

In other areas there is only 1 NHS cycle funded and if you do a private round you do forfeit the NHS cycle.

@whysohardtogetusername That's great feedback, I'm really pleased that it's made your life easier and you safe some time from the spreadsheets!

Thanks for the insight on your experience too, that's really interesting. Sounds like we are very lucky with the funding on Kings area which I wasn't aware would be a variable across different areas.

This is really helpful! — thank you so much for taking the time to share it. The level of detail you’ve gone into, and the fact you’ve actually created something to make the whole comparison process clearer, is incredibly generous. The waiting and uncertainty can feel overwhelming at times, so resources like this really do make a difference.

Out of interest does anyone know what the differences are in service if you did private at the same hospital/clinic you’ve been using NHS?

Wishing you and your wife all the very best with your upcoming steps, and thank you again for sharing Seedling with the community.

@whysohardtogetusername Save you some time

@ForNeatPeer Thanks for your kind words and I'm thrilled that the site will be on use!

I don't know the definitive answer to key differences in services but I believe it might be to do with choice of Doctor and perhaps timings or treatment?

@ForNeatPeer My experience with King's was pretty much identical, which made me think well of them as a clinic. They didn't offer me any random expensive add ons which I know friends have been offered at other clinics. Same doctor.

I'm private at King's. I don't know how my level of service compares to NHS patients but I'd feel very fortunate with an NHS referral given it feels like a private clinic in terms of building etc. I've sometimes had to wait for consultant evaluation appointment availability post round but overall I've been able to do back to back banking.

Hey, thanks for sharing!

I did have a look at the link you shared out of curiosity, mainly because we’re also at the stage of questioning whether our current clinic is the right long-term fit. This is absolutely brilliant and is something that we have needed from the start of our journey and I will be sure to share!

Sorry it’s been such a tough road for you and your wife so far. It sounds like you’ve been doing everything you can to keep moving forward despite the stop-start nature of treatment, which is exhausting in itself. I hope the next steps bring you better news.

@ZanyOpalHedgehog Thanks so much for your feedback and kind words, fantastic to hear it is of use to you! If there is anything additional you might find useful on there then please feel free to reach out to me directly or on here 😊

It's a great tool, thank you!

Are you planning to add more clinics to your database? I'm only asking because I wanted to check how my clinic (CRGH) compares to others but I couldn't find it. I think ARGC is missing too. Unless I'm doing something wrong with the search engine which is also entirely possible!

@GreenLemonade Thanks for note and very pleased it's of use to you! That is a great catch, it looks like they've not been displaying. I've amended and you should be able to compare them now 😀

Hi, we recommended by urologist for icsi, by King's fertility london, in early October 2025, still waiting for their response. We emailed them too. How can we contact them as its already 6th month after recommendation. This is too stressful for waiting so long without any further information by them. 😢

@OneMintQuail ive been using myseedling. It’s amazing. Can I ask where you got the success rates by age group? I wanted to look at the same for success by egg collection (the HEFA website only shows over and under 38).