Private IVF vs Waiting for the NHS

[roamingcat]

Hi all,

I’m looking for advice/perspectives on paying for private IVF vs waiting for the NHS as we’re trying to decide what to do.

I’m 31 and my husband is 33 and we’ve been TTC for 14 cycles now. We’re both fit and healthy, eat well, don’t drink a lot of alcohol so have followed all of the fertility “lifestyle” guidelines for a while before TTC. I stopped the pill around a year before we started trying and my cycles are regular, generally 26-28 days. This whole time we’ve been tracking ovulation with either OPKs or BBT so we’re as sure as we can be that it’s happening each month. We’ve had all of our testing done privately (including a HyCosy) and everything was fine aside from my husbands morphology. It was 1% at the first test and 2% 3 months later (after 3 months of proxeed and no alcohol at all).

We’re now trying to decide whether we take the plunge and pay for a round of private IVF (approx £10,000) or whether we wait to be eligible on the NHS. Our private consultant put us in the category of unexplained infertility with mild male factor. We haven’t yet had an NHS consultation (the wait is 6 months for the first appointment), so we don’t know if they will think similar. If the NHS classes us as unexplained then we will need to wait 2 years, but sometimes people with morphology issues are eligible sooner. In our ICB you can do up to 2 rounds of private IVF and if they’re unsuccessful you’re still eligible for NHS IVF (they only fund one round + one FET regardless).

So, what would you do?! We have the money in savings and I don’t think we will regret paying to have a child sooner/a nicer IVF experience if it works. But it is tricky to wrap your head around paying to have a child when the majority of the population get it for “free”!

Knowing what I do now, I would crack on and pay for it! However, I would consider paying for a multi-cycle package because the 10k you suggest I am guessing only pays for one egg collection? I had no idea that we would get so few eggs from our first egg collection and also how many transfers fail. I am also ‘unexplained’ like you and have had two egg collections with only 5 embryos created in total from both collections combined. I’m now 4 failed transfers in.

Sorry to be so negative but I feel like it’s better to know this and I didn’t! Equally I know several people who have had their first transfers result in a pregnancy, so it is possible. All the best to you xx

Depends how well you think you can wait. I'm on the NHS wait train and based on waiting times till my next appointment I estimate it will be 18 months between our GP referral and starting treatment. We have decided to go private as I can't cope with the lack of communication and being strung along by NHS waiting lists.

Thank you, this is what I worry about with the NHS - I know it could be a really long time from when we’re deemed eligible to actually starting and I’m not getting any younger!

Thank you, it’s always helpful to understand others experiences. So we have decided we would only pay for one cycle initially and see how that goes. If it’s a total fail then our next move would be the NHS cycle before coming back to private for a 3rd, and we would consider a multi cycle at that point.

It's such a hard decision! I would also really recommend Seen Fertility, I spoke with them and they helped me talk through different options and compare etc. It's such a minefield out there isn't it

My husband and I have been TTC since 2022. After three miscarriages, an ectopic, and then unexplained infertility for a year following the ectopic I’d had enough and we took the plunge and went down the paid IVF route. I knew that emotionally I would not have been able to deal with the stress of chasing and waiting for the NHS, particularly on something I felt was so time critical. My local CQC also makes you wait for two years of unexplained infertility before you’re referred which I wasn’t prepared to do.

Overall, I don’t regret it. It’s been expensive, paid for through a combination of savings and a remortgage but in terms of wait times, we had our initial consultations in August and September following a round of tests, had our final screenings done in October, started treatment in November, and just had our first embryo transfer last week (we did PGTA so froze all of our embryos and sent them for testing, which took a while).

I paid for a package through Access Fertility, who work with a number of clinics around the UK for discounted IVF. We went for the two cycle package which covers all scans, the retrieval, unlimited transfers etc for roughly £10k. The programme finishes either at the end of two cycles or once you have a live birth, whichever happens soonest. Initial tests, medication and PGTA wasn’t covered so all in I think we paid c.£15k. I’m aware they also do a refund package, but you have to undergo a medical screening to check you’re eligible (I wasn’t, unfortunately!)

Overall I don’t regret it one bit - unfortunately age becomes an increasingly important factor in chances of success (I’m 34) when it comes to IVF so personally I wasn’t ready to continue to get older and decrease our chances of success whilst we waited after already having been through so much. I do wish my bank balance was a bit healthier, but overall just don’t think my nerves could have taken dealing with the NHS on something like this.

Thank you for sharing, this is exactly the type of benefit I’m hoping we will have by going privately. Expensive but hopefully worth it for our sanity. Out of interest, are you using a London clinic?

Yes I definitely think it helped keep me sane during what’s already an emotionally fraught process (all the while you’re being pumped full of meds 🙃).

We used a Birmingham based clinic (Care Fertility) who have been brilliant. They’re luckily not that far from where we live which has been really helpful for scans and appointments etc.

Thank you - Wishing you all the best for the transfer wait x

Thank you! All the best in your IVF journey ❤️

Thank you so much ❤️

I was languishing on an NHS waiting list until I discovered that my GP could refer me to a private clinic under the right to choose pathway. I asked my GP to refer me to Care Fertility and things moved fairly quickly following that. I spoke to my GP in early January and my egg collection is scheduled for Monday.

Not all private clinics accept NHS referrals/funding and there is some disadvantage to NHS funded cycles compared to private - for example my clinic doesn’t allow nhs funded patients to pay for private add ons like PGTA testing, however other clinics, including Care Fertility clinics in other regions do allow this.

I imagine it would be sensible to have your first cycle NHS funded as the first cycle is often a standard protocol and depending on how you respond a private clinic would be able to tailor your later cycles (if needed) and advise on add ons (if helpful).

If you haven’t already then you should check your ovarian reserve as this might push you to act quickly if needed. We did this and decided to do a couple of embryo freezing rounds while we waited. Worth being careful that you don’t veto your right to your NHS rounds though if you want them for later. This will depend on the policy for your area but there is a good chance that doing a full (or even freezing) private round would forfeit an NHS round. Good luck whatever you decide!

Thank you, this is helpful to know! So the challenge we have is the time we would have to wait to be eligible for the NHS funding. Whilst some people with morphology issues are eligible sooner than 2 years, we need to wait six months for the initial NHS hospital consultation (ie this is where they would deem us eligible) and there's a chance they would still class us as unexplained and make us wait the full 2 years. I think if we'd already been trying for 2 years the GP could just refer us without the hospital step. Whereas if we go private we would start in June (we would hold off for a couple of months due to personal commitments).

My AMH is 19.4 which I understand is pretty good for my age! In our area, you can do 2 private rounds of IVF and if you're unsuccessful you're still eligible for NHS treatment. However, you need to have transferred all remain embryos before you can proceed with NHS treatment so we wouldn't be able to freeze for later.

Hello,

just posting to say I’m in a similar scenario to you, I’m 34 partner 38
we started ttc nearly 2 years ago and sadly had an ectopic early on and I lost a tube.

otherwise everything looks ok on testing (partners morphology 3% everything else normal) and my hycosy and hormones all fine. I’m just waiting on an AMH result.

we had our first nurse appt with nhs fertility and essentially she said we’d be ‘unexplained’ as technically I can get pregnant albeit with less chances as one tube. It’s 3 years of trying before eligibility in our area so August 2027 for us… my eggs and I can’t wait that long!

if my AMH result is ok we’ll be eligible for Kind IVF which is quite a bit cheaper than other places, using mild stims, and I’m quite keen for that (if I can avoid being pumped full of too many hormones I’d like to try, also have a hopeful idea that we just need the extra help because of tube logistics rather than anything else 😆 so it should work well? But I know that could be totally wrong)

only thing I wonder is if you get less embryos in the freezer as a result , but am aware it’s also probably quality over quantity

we’d also be able to keep 2 the nhs rounds if 1-2 private rounds don’t work so feels worth a try
but it’s hard to take the leap! Sending hugs xx

Thank you for sharing, fingers crossed for your AMH result. It is crazy that it is a 3 year wait in your area, it's so disappointing that the NHS is letting people down in this way.

If it helps, we've also had a consultation with Kind and they told us that given they use less medication, their "goal" is generally to get 5-6 eggs and one embryo per round, so you are less likely to have something to freeze. However, I have read stories from people who have done Kind and have got multiple embryos so you never know how you're going to react. We decided in the end that Kind wasn't right for us but it is definitely a good option particularly as it is so much cheaper. Wishing you all the best xx

For a different perspective, I was 33 when I was referred (34 when I started treatment) and are doing NHS treatment. We are lucky to get 3 funded rounds in our area. We decided to stick with NHS even if there is more waiting, and so far the waiting has been less bad than we thought, and less bad than the clinic said. We did some tests privately to speed things up, which I‘ve seen quite a few people on here do- we did AMH, semen analysis and HyCoSy privately and our NHS clinic used those results. It was about 8 months wait from initial referral to starting egg collection, and we had 3 frozen transfers in the 8 months after that. So a year and half after referral we had done a retrieval and three transfers. Sadly none were successful but I don’t think that’s anything to do with the NHS.

The downsides are that you have to chase and “manage upwards” to some degree- but if you’re quite proactive (some might say a control freak 😂) then this part comes naturally. Also you do have less control over treatment details, things are more standardised. However they have been great about investigating our transfer failures and open to suggestions about trying different protocols.

I would say try and find out a bit more about actual wait times and reputation of your local NHS clinic(s) before making a decision.

Financial peace has been worthwhile for us (I know we are lucky to have that choice). We could have afforded private treatment (just) if needed but it’s been nice to have that money to make the journey a bit easier with holidays etc.

Part of our decision was about age- at 33 we had 7-8 years where we would pursue treatment, so money/emotional resources would probably be the thing that makes us stop treatment rather than time. If we don’t have success in these NHS rounds then we’ll have the money and time to carry on privately if we want to (although I know it’s harder to have success when you get older). Obviously hopefully you will have success quickly but in case it does take a while this might be worth weighing up. I know how horrible and anxiety-inducing that “time is running out” feeling is but at 31 you do have some time on your side.

Another factor is whether you want to have multiple children. If you want to freeze embryos for a sibling before starting transfers then that’s not possible on the NHS so that might impact your decision.

Wishing you all the best with whatever path you choose.

Thank you for this, that’s helpful to know 😊 my AMH came back pretty high so I’m feeling a bit more optimistic about the kind approach working out so I’ve booked a consultation with them in a couple of weeks, best of luck with whichever path you end up on xxx

Thank you for sharing, this is a really helpful perspective. Our area only funds 1 round, so I think if they were willing to fund more we definitely would be swayed to wait for the NHS. However, being realistic we will likely need more than 1 round so this way we get our first round out the way sooner and are expecting to have to use the second NHS round when we come to be eligible for it. Wishing you the best of luck with your treatment x