Treatment Abroad - any feedback on how easy logistically

[Skittles11]

Hi all

For anyone who has travelled abroad for treatment - can you tell me how you found it? Did you feel more stressed or less so with the travel aspect? Is there anything you wish you knew before you did this? What were people's reasons for going abroad rather than country where you reside?

We've identified a couple of options for our next steps, one clinic is in UK and the other is in Spain. Which one to go for - facing a dilemma!!

My understanding is that when having teatment abroad, most things eg. scans can be done in UK with the travel being only for transfers and possibly for additional tests.

Thank you all, appreciate any comments

(This would be for donor eggs by the way) x x

[JA-fnuk Partner Nurse Fertility Network UK]

Hope you get some replies to your post with the information you were looking for . Did you watch the meeting Tuesday 13th Feb re Treatment Abroad ? It has been recorded and should be on available on our website fertilitynetworkuk.org shortly

Meantime take a look at our previous webinars Thinking of treatment overseas . All you need to know [Wed 15th Nov ] To access select menu - click Learn about fertility and scroll to Webinars

Take care

Janet-Partner

[Tnthketnf]

Hi Skittles

I have had treatment both at home -clinic half an hour drive- and abroad (thessaloniki, Greece) 2 OE cycles and currently DE with the same clinic. I am not going to lie. The first cycle abroad I was very stressed about everything, ordering meds, organising scans but the clinic and dedicated coordinator helped. I don't know if she could see how stressed I was and was very responsive but any question she was there.

The scans were bit tricky that's because I am based in Scotland (Glasgow) and there are very limited options in private health care. So there are two big healthcare providers that they wanted around £500 for scans and additional costs for referral slips and then the baby bond type of places (for pregnant ladies who want extra scans) that offer scans around £100-£150 again two companies with branches all over the central belt. I had to organise this myself because my clinic doesn't work with them and I found trying to book online with the uncertainty of dates very stressful. In the end I found that If I am prepared to travel to a different branch I can be accommodated. That's true for one of the main baby scan places. I haven't used the other.

The last minute flights aren't as stressful, but they can be expensive. With Spain you won't have a problem but with Thessaloniki there are no direct flights from Scotland (only in the summer) so it is usually two flights which is a pain but I now know what to book. In my previous treatments I tended to only have the first scan in UK and then go over for the rest (with a/l from work) .

Now that I know what to do I don't find it as overwhelming but the first time it really was.

All the best!x

[kayray87]

Hi Skittles, I did one cycle in Ireland then another few in Spain (Barcelona) some while living in Ireland and some while living in the UK. There are pros and cons to both!

Fertility treatment is a bit behind in Ireland so it wasn't hard for me to decide to go to Spain for second cycle when our first went disastrously wrong. You need to find a place to do scans/bloods and make sure it's easy to get last minute appointments with them (can message you a chain of scan places). For prescriptions my Spanish clinic recommended a place in London who would accept email prescriptions from the Spanish clinic and then post it promptly to me. In Ireland, I got my doctor to rewrite the Spanish prescription for me so I could get it in Irish pharmacies.

Getting flights to Barcelona wasn't a problem but be aware they'll be a lot more expensive during the summer months.

I was a bit stressed the first time I went as I tried to figure out the logistics but second, third, fourth time it was fine.

Pros is that the care I recieved in Spanish clinics was brilliant, my doctor went above and beyond for me. I was blown away by her. And what was unexpected was that it was a really nice to have a change of scenery, that really gave us a boost during treatment. We did a cycle last January and even though it was still cold, there was blue skies and sunshine which was uplifting!

I think it is probably a very personal choice but that was my experience. I also really like Barcelona as a city! xxx

[Skittles11 in reply to kayray87]

Thank you for this. Yes it would be really helpful if you don't mind messaging me with a list of scan places and also what was the place in London that accepted Spanish prescriptions? X x

[Steadman80]

I’m with a Spanish clinic. Not far for the airport. Just over 2 hours flight. Cheap hotels. Lovely clinic and staff. Nice weather! Please PM me if you want to know more xx

[psalm18 in reply to Steadman80]

I'd appreciate it if you could pm as I'm at a crossroads. I already have frozen embryos in the UK but will cost about £3k or more to transfer them. I was wondering I could transfer my frozen embies abroad to do the transfer, which will cost significantly less.

[CMB781014]

Hi,

I know a great clinic in Barcelona and I'm sure they will help you a lot if you want to have some more information. If you want, just PM me and I'll tell you everything you need, and I can get you in touch with them. Take care!xx

[Krystal_43]

Hi skittles, think we’ve chatted about this before but I found ivf abroad really easy. Scans and blood tests were easy to book in the uk, and we only travelled to Spain for fertilisation & transfers. I can speak Spanish but my partner doesn’t so all our treatment & conversations were in English. I pushed for transfers on Mondays so we could have long weekends out there. Xxx you found a clinic?

[Christianbaby]

Hi! I did 2 cycles in the UK and 1 DE abroad. The DE abroad gave us our baby. It was difficult at first - arranging for flights, booking hotels, getting time off from work, etc. We went to N.Cyprus and our clinic was absolutely amazing. They are connected with a hotel and can arrange pick up from the airport. Scans and bloodwork were done here in the UK. It can be stressful but it's doable. Wishing you all the best. Good luck! x

[happypupp]

I'm 6wks pregnant. It took us 3 x EC trips, 1 solo trip for hysteroscopy and 2 × trips for FET - though the first 3 trips were to bank embryos. It still came up cheaper than a 3 cycle package we were quoted at Create. Our clinics are in Czech Republic and we aren't not far from London airports. Logistically I found it pretty easy once I got the sequence of prep like buying med locally etc right. Although, I got permission from HR to work from abroad in between scans, egg retrieval and transfers. Sometimes I just used annual leaves. But I always travelled before the first required scan (day6-7) so I could do it at the clinic for no extra charge, booking flights on a shorter notice, so we didn't need to pay like £150 for scans in the UK.

[Sunshine809]

We're in Spain and have found the standard of care much better then the UK. They seem more advanced here based on our previous UK experience. We just had a transfer and it was a far more professional, considered and relaxing experience than in the UK.

We got our medication from an online pharmacy in Greece. Our personal assistant emailed them our prescription so that was quite easy in the end - I'd been worried about it.

As someone else has mentioned, it's nice to be somewhere sunny and away from all the stresses of home. That's really helped me as I'm in a holiday mindset and far more relaxed. I used to get stressed about the 1 hour drive to our clinic, so the stress of the flight didn't actually feel that different, surprisingly.

I wasn't anticipating it all being quite so last minute though (we're doing DE). As we are treating it as our main holiday this year we didn't mind, but it was hectic trying to book the flights and accommodation and my husband had to try to change the dates of his leave, which is difficult with his work. Our donor was ready earlier than expected so everything was moved forward 3 days. If we have to go out for multiple transfers the cost of the flights and hotels are going to be higher than I initially considered, but I don't regret our decision at all. We've been happy with the whole experience.

Wishing you the best of luck, whatever you decide! xx

[BearPanda]

Hello! I'm based in the UK and went to Poland for my treatment. The two main driver were that in general the private health care is not great in the UK when compared to Europe and the cost of treatment. All my visits and communication are with the same doctor which is helping to feel like you are properly looked after. Also, some drugs are not available in the UK and really limit clinics in their course of treatments. The city I chose has 5 flights a day and off season tickets are £10-15. I have a pretty flexible job, so must say that's a bonus, but there is a lot that you can coordinate from home if needed. It was scary at first, but I got a really comfy travelling set and I quite enjoy my little IVF escapes One mistake I made was that I didn't stack up on medication once and when I run out, 3 of my tablets didn't exist in the UK (two of which had no replacement). Pricewise, including all tests for me and my husband, one ICSI, all medication, 3 transfers with embryo glue, hotels and all flights we're spent 9K so far.