self funded NHS route vs private clinics: pros & cons ?; quality of treatment, costs & Time

[Grateful_heart]

Hi, I'm pretty new to the process and would appreciate all the advice I can get.

I reached out to an NHS clinic in my area Dec 23 for a fertility check for my husband and I, first appointment was in Jan and we didn't get results/follow up consultation until march.

the consultant mentioned my husband had a low sperm count /morphology & advised ICSI but asked my partner to have karyotping /cystic fibrosis blood tests done first, we're still waiting on these results since April as they said it would take 6-8 weeks.

all of the above we have done via the self funded route and paid out of pocket as we are not eligible for nhs funding, and the amount of time its taking is starting to get frustrating , i thought it would be faster since we were paying . I'm confused about whether to stay with this NHS clinic as a self funded patient or move to a private clinic

-has anyone experienced both services; is private significantly more expensive than nhs self funded route?

-would it waste more time trying to request my test results and moving to a private clinic to start all over?

-I've heard of abc ivf that appears even cheaper than the nhs self funded route but it appears they are a mild/natural ivf clinic, is there any major disadvantage to that ? I don't want to sacrifice quality because of cost and then end up having to repeat the process and spend twice anyways.

Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated , we live in the west midlands .Thank you

[Rubylou01]

Morning - I can't answer all of your questions but I can relate to your situation. I was a private client at an NHS clinic due to being single and my location in ne Scotland. I have wasted 5 years I didn't have (started at 39), and +£12,000 hoping for results that never came (which to be fair was interrupted by COVID but the time nhs took to get me from referral to hyscopy was in excess of 6months and reboot after clinic opened up again another 6 months) to be told at my last meeting I was on max protocol (ie they wouldn't change a thing) and I would need to try another 6 times to secure enough eggs at a cost of +£48k. Advice consisted of "take vit D, folic acid and eat healthily". I have since moved clinics to private in London. At my meeting last week they said they'd change my protocol to different types of meds, interrogated my supplements, asked about exercise, reinforced I should be on Mediterranean diet and told me I could start at my next period ie in 10 days time if i wanted provided my straws arrive in time. Yes, I will pay more for private but I now regret not moving earlier when it was clear my NHS clinic wasn't up to scratch. And I think it v much depends on your local NHS clinic. But I'd rather pay more every single time knowing I had done everything possible than be frustrated at every turn with poor advice and slow responses with no positive outcome. Good luck with your decision xx

[Grateful_heart in reply to Rubylou01]

Good Morning Rubylou, Thank you for sharing your experience with me ,I can totally relate to the sort of advice you were given at the NHS clinic, my partner was told to just take vit A,E & selenium despite the significantly low count , no advice on supplements to boost.

Wishing you all the best with this new clinic & pray you get the best outcome!

[Rubylou01 in reply to Grateful_heart]

Thank you Thinking about it you can always attend two clinics at the same time? I know if you go private rather than NHS you have to pay a bit more for first intro but for the clinic I am now using (where they do seem to look at everything and it seems v bespoke) they asked me what I wanted out of the meeting and gave me advice on what I should be doing at the outset. And I guess you could describe the advice you've been given and see if they'd do something different or timescales for proceeding? If you went down that route and if it's the same as what the NHS is offering you could stay where you are and at least that offers more reassurance? Just to say I understood coq10 was meant to help men with low sperm morphology as well and that's just from wider reading. I think Rebecca Fetts book "it starts with the egg" has advice on supplements and things men can do (I skipped that chapter ) xx

[Grateful_heart in reply to Rubylou01]

Thank you so much I'll explore that idea as well.

the book also sounds like it'll be really helpful ,I'll try to find it and start reading🤓.