# IVF Cost - How much did you spend?



## anatelle (Jul 13, 2011)

Hi,

I'm starting to look into IVF and trying to budget for it. Clinics in London usually quote 3k-4k for IVF, but this doesn't include all drugs/scans, etc... So it's difficult for me to estimate.

I initially budgeted roughly £5k per cycle with a total budget of £15-20k for 3 cycles. But I now read that some ladies spend 15-20k for one cycle at the ARGC!

I understand that every body may have different procedures, drugs, tests, etc... But it would be helpful if you could let me know how much was spent for your cycles and what clinic you went to and a bit of information on your treatment (to understand the pricing better).

Thank you


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## staceysm (Nov 18, 2010)

Hi,

It's hard to give an exact figure, as I had to have extra drugs.  But but my private ICSI cycle cost about £6000 in total.

If you look at the HFEA website it gives you success rates, so we choose a number of clinics from there and then emailed them for a price list.  

X


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## Louisej29 (Nov 19, 2012)

Costs vary greatly depending on where you go and what " extras" you have on top of straightforward Ivf.  We also had Icsi.  Imsi. And a whole range of immune treatments. Including expensive ivig transfusions.  We were at the lister which is expensive.  We could have got cheaper more locally but wanted to go to one of the top 3 London clinics. Each cycle cost us about ten grand.  I think Argc is the most expensive.  It's a costly business.  We ended up selling our house to finance it. ! 
Good luck.  Xx


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## wibble-wobble (Apr 16, 2011)

Hi just wanted to say the reason behind the Argc being so expensive is they throw literally every test and scan at you as they can. They very much tailor treatment to the individual whereas other clinics have a more generic approach. 

Because of this Argc are the clinic of choice for ladies who have had multiple failures and want to leave no stone unturned to find the reasons why. 

If you know a clinic that you may use, you can usually find a detailed breakdown of cycle charges on their websites.


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## bumpinprogress1978 (Apr 22, 2014)

Did 2 nhs cycles which were a waste of time.

Went to ARGC for 3rd attempt.  Have spent £20k on treatment there...this includes monitoring cycle, treatment cycle, drugs during stims, immunes testing, IVIG treatment x2 (£1500 each go), hysteroscopy, post transfer monitoring and drugs and post positive pregnancy care from 4 weeks - 12 weeks.  We have one more immunes test to go before we are discharged from ARGC.

As we lived in the Midlands we spent about another £6k on travel, accommodation and complimentary therapy such as dietitican consultations and accupuncture.

For us it was to go to the absolute best and leave no stone unturned and it was the best decision we ever made.  I'm now nearly 14 weeks pregnant.

We had some savings but used a 0% interest free credit card to pay for the rest.  We have until March next year until it accrues interest so we are paying bits off as we go and will transfer the balance at the end of the promotional rate.  We're also going to get loads of Nectar points which will come in handy for the nappies and baby food we will have to buy.

It was an eye-watering amount but we have no regrets as they didn't fail us unlike the NHS clinic we attended before.


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## anatelle (Jul 13, 2011)

Thank you girls.

Staceysm which clinic did you go for?
Louisej29, what clinic and how much was spent?

I'm really trying to see how much "others" actually spent (and at which clinic) as the price list doesn't tell me how was the final cost.
I know it will not reflect how much I will spend, but it may give me a better idea.


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## jenni01 (Oct 15, 2010)

Hi!
You can also go abroad for IVF which is considerably cheaper than here in the UK.
Personally I'm using Donor Egg but you can also have Own Egg Ivf.
Good luck


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## wibble-wobble (Apr 16, 2011)

How much you spend is going to be dependent on what you need. 

The clinic I had treatment at it costs £6500 for a cycle including drugs (icsi is an extra £1000) 

There would be additional charge for any left over embies to be frozen too. Costs can be reduced by thousands if you egg share


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## Cloudy (Jan 26, 2012)

At private clinics in the midlands for ICSI with all the basic extras (assisted hatching, glue, embryoscope, scratch etc) it is around £6,500 (£1000-ish of that being just the ICSI element). Plus drugs (anywhere between £500 to £1000 for the basics). If you wanted/needed pgd on top it's worked out nearer £10k with our best estimates (including a rough guess at drugs). I think we priced up to be about £18k at ARGC with everything we wanted. 

Like Jenny said abroad is a lot cheaper, but it depends on how you feel about travelling and you need to research the travel costs, and factor in last minute flights etc. 

Like Wibble said, egg share (or even sperm donation) is a good way of cutting the cost, but some people don't like the idea of doing that, or aren't eligible.

There are also a lot more clinics doing packages/plans - e.g. 3 cycles with partial refund if no pregnancy - but you need to look at the small print to check what is included and any time restraints.

It can feel like a minefield, but once you put everything into a basic excel spreadsheet it makes everything easier to comprehend.

Also, when comparing success rates you need to look at the detail of those rates; e.g. The age range, wether it's positive pregnancy tests/heart beat/live birth, types of treatments, wether it's egg donor etc.

Good luck xxx


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## Irish Dee (Jan 30, 2008)

ARGC costs.

When we started out, we were led to believe that a cycle would cost anywhere between £10,000 and £15,000 to get to OTD.  This held true for us and by OTD we had spent £13,500.  I had a lot of bloods and I stimmed for 15 days on maximun dose.  

Post BFP, my immunes went a bit bananas and I ended up having 7 IVIGs, each with a healthy price tag of £1,750.  Living in Ipswich, my traveling costs were high.  The totals for each are are listed below:

Bloods                  -    £3,460
Scans                    -    £550
Immunes                -    £15,265
ICSI and Blast        -    £4,025
Travel                    -    £1,800
Medication              -    £3,770
Misc                      -    £878
GRAND TOTAL          -      £29,750

Written down, it looks like such a lot of money, but it was spread over 7 months and we paid it as we went along. 

I'm convinced that my dodgy immunes were the main reason that I never got pregnant before now and to be honest, I felt really safe and protected when I had the IVIGs.  Also, for all the ladies that I met throughout my time at ARGC, I never met anyone who had as many IVIGs as me.  I think that a red flag might have gone up for me if everyone was having IVIGs every month, but all my fellow cyclers ended up having 2 or perhaps 3.  The IVIGs were as a result of my own body producing rotten killer cells.  

Plenty of people would spend this kind of money on an executive car or an extension or house improvement and to think that we have managed to create a whole little human makes the cost so unimportant.  I know that money plays a huge factor when considering where to go for treatment, but for me, at the age of 39 as I was when I approached ARGC, I felt that I would prefer to throw everything we could at one decent cycle with the best clinic in the country rather than trying again and again with standard protocol IVF that was just not working for us.

I do not begrudge one penny of the money that we spent, and I know that we are one of the lucky ones that had the means to go to ARGC.  In a fair world, everyone who struggles with infertility would have access to the amazing care and attention that we were so lucky to get. I honestly believe that I would never have got pregnant with any other clinic.


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## bumpinprogress1978 (Apr 22, 2014)

Irish Dee said:


> I do not begrudge one penny of the money that we spent, and I know that we are one of the lucky ones that had the means to go to ARGC. In a fair world, everyone who struggles with infertility would have access to the amazing care and attention that we were so lucky to get. I honestly believe that I would never have got pregnant with any other clinic.


Totally agree. I fully believe the monitoring and attention to detail that I received at ARGC got us the result we wanted.


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## anatelle (Jul 13, 2011)

Thank you so much for the details and breakdown. I highly appreciate it. It helps me realise the huge differences between the different treatments.

I have an appointment with the ARGC in a month and wondering whether it's the best approach for a 1st IVF as I understand it is likely to be pricier there.

Also, another question came to mind. Were you ladies able to keep a full time job through the treatments?

Thank you


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## staceysm (Nov 18, 2010)

Hi,

You haven't said why you need to go down the IVF route, so it might be that you don't necessarily need to go to the ARGC straight away, if you have minor fertility issues then there are certainly other places to consider first.

My first cycle was at Oxford fertility unit (NHS funded). It worked and I had a son.
My second fresh cycle was at BMI Chaucer in Canterbury.  That worked and we had a second son.

I worked throughout my first cycle and just had a couple of days off after egg collection, but it's a personal choice.

X


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## anatelle (Jul 13, 2011)

Thanks Staceysm.
I have endometriosis stage 3 (excised a few years ago), PCOS and adenomyosis. I tried to get pregnant for 2 years with a previous partner without success. We had ovulation induction through NHS but we separated at this stage. I was 25-27yo at the time.

I am now 31yo and I have just started TTC with my new partner. But given my history we are seriously looking into IVF if we don’t have any good news in a few months. We will meet a couple of fertility specialists for advice over the summer and we will see in autumn.


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## staceysm (Nov 18, 2010)

Hi,

By the time we had our second cycle I to was diagnosed with endometriosis and adenomyosis, fortunately our cycle worked, so I hope that can give you some reassurance.

There is a thread for sufferers of endometriosis on here, talk to them and they might be able to help point you in the right direction.

X


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## Cloudy (Jan 26, 2012)

I know the waiting and trying is frustrating, but most women with those problems still manage to get pregnant naturally. The problems you have can cause IF but its not a definite. Also, its really important to think about the sperm-factor.

Are you entitled to nhs funding? If so they will often refer you early if you have a diagnosed condition. If not you could pay privately to have some of the basic tests (amh, sperm analysis, ultrasound etc) and get your GP to do the free ones (hormone profile) and see where you go from there. It would be a shame to miss out on an NHS attempt if you are entitled to it: Our clinic, although it was NHS funded was private and didn't do a "one size fits all" treatment plan, they tailored it as much as possible. You can also sometimes "top up" treatment at other clinics (or your own, depending on the rules of your CCG), so NHS doesn't necessarily mean that you are having to miss out on useful extras.

Good luck whatever you decide to do xxx


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## anatelle (Jul 13, 2011)

Unfortunately we are not entitled to NHS funding as my partner already has a daughter from a previous relationship.
We are currently doing the list of tests required by the clinics. We will see how this goes...


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## Cloudy (Jan 26, 2012)

Ah I see. Have you spoken to your GP. Sometimes they can still do some of the tests for you to save you some money: I really hope they do help you if you ask.

Loads of luck and have a look at the regional sections for more idea of the clinics. I know there is a lot of info on the London section about argc.

Good luck xxx


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## Lilly83 (Jan 19, 2012)

Hello

Like said you should still be able to access tests even if you can't get funding, are you sure they won't fund you? My DP has a child and mine still did, im so so grateful! I have stage 4 endo too  

We have paid about 4k-5k on top of our nhs funding so far to top up our cycles as not having much luck so far 

L x


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## CrazyHorse (May 8, 2014)

Counting drug costs, I think each of my 2 completed IVF cycles at IVF Scotland, which is sadly now defunct, cost between £5,500 and £6,000. The cycle that we canceled before egg collection cost a bit over half that (they refunded more than half the cycle cost, but of course we'd already had to pay for all the drugs). I did not have ICSI, any blood tests for clotting or immune disorders, or any surgeries or procedures other than those included in the IVF cycles. We did pay for Embryoscope on the cycle where we had more than one embryo. No travel costs.

My cycle at Reprofit, from which I am now pregnant, cost about £3,000, including travel costs for me and DH, blood tests at Reprofit for clotting disorders and basic immune issues, intralipids (one round at Reprofit and one in UK), and one follicle tracking scan and beta hCG in UK. Drug costs were much lower because it was a mild IVF cycle; unlike with IVF Scotland, I remained on progesterone support until ~12 weeks, and had 5 mg / day prednisone for a similar period of time, in addition to the intralipids. No ICSI, no additional surgeries or procedures.

My issues were very low AMH and AFC, fibroids (not involving the endometrium, however), probable endometriosis (never had a lap, long history of symptoms in younger years), possible adenomyosis (bulky uterus, never had a biopsy). I have a long history of minor immune system-mediated health issues, which was why Reprofit was OK with throwing intralipids and low-dose prednisone into the mix, and I believe that immune issues were a contributing factor to my miscarriage on my last IVF Scotland cycle. We did not have significant male-factor issues or clotting disorder issues (as confirmed by the blood tests with Reprofit).

Hope that helps!


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## celinette (May 13, 2015)

Morning, I m French and still trying to understand how the UK system is working😓

But here is my experience, 4 fiv and 1 isci at the Nuffield at Woking nothing wrong but a lact of materiel( embryologiste lab) now I can compare with other. With taking the drug at them pharmacie it costed around 6 k + 1.5k if isci.

Now, I just had my transfers at the lister, and OMG there are amazing regarding the traitment, ok I felt more like a number to them compare to Woking but there lab is on top.
As someone said The Lister is on the top 3 .

Cost: the lister is SO expensive with drug.for my prescription it will costed me around 1500£. But I order them through a website heathcareathome and surprise only 700£ .
I also check with tesco and asda, tesco quote me on the phone and when I went to order them they asked me double, I spoke to the manager and she explain to me their staff proplably mistaken the nhs price with the private. So went to asda and they did stick to theirs previous quote.

For my imsi, I also add only 2 scan with the lister satellite clinics in Slough, so what I pay:

Ivf lister, 2500
Plus imsi, 1800
Scan at satellite clinic, 180
Blood test, 300
Drug ( healthcareathome), 650
Asda drug, 200
Plus 2 consultant visit, 350

5980 for us.
Ordering through the web site for drug is more annoying because you need to be at home for the delivery ( morning or afternoon) but I was more than happy to pay half price 😀

So on the end I almost pay the same but one with paying a package and no worry about anything and the other one managing my self the cost from everywhere and HAVE a IMSI.
I forgot to say with the lister we had more embryos and ( 1st time ever) a blasto transfer.
Good luck.

Ce


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## anatelle (Jul 13, 2011)

Thank you all so much for your help/tips!

Celinette, when was your treatment? You mentioned £2,500 for ivf at Lister. I think I saw £3,500 on their price list.
Was you treatment a while ago?

I have already done few blood tests through my gp. Now waiting for my periods to gets the remaining ones. I'll have the result of my AMH (done privately) tomorrow. We'll see

For info, so far I'm considering 3 clinic mainly:
-Guys and St Thomas (but I'll fund it myself)
I have an appointment with them tomorrow
- ARGC: I have an appointment with them 14th August
- Lister: I am trying to book an initial consultation but they're not returning my call :-/


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## Mrs Courage (Jun 6, 2015)

Hi Anatelle,

My hubby and I went to Norway as the costs in London are too expensive: We paid £3800 for 3 cycles (a 3 for 2 deal, normally £1900 per cycle which included blood tests and scan and consultations, egg collection and egg transfer. We had to pay meds seperately about £1200 and obviously flights to Norway, car hire and hotel but we got a holiday out of it. Norway is a beautiful country. Hope that helps! x


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## Louisej29 (Nov 19, 2012)

Good luck !      Poor that the lister are not returning your call.  I was very impressed with them and could not fault any consultant we saw or the care we had.  It was brilliant.  But i do  sometimes wonder if I'd gone to the Argc whether it would have taken quite so many cycles to get there.


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## Heidi33 (Apr 2, 2013)

I went abroad to Ivf Cyprus (previously Dogus) as they have the best success rates ive ever seen and are considered one of the best clinics in the world. 1 cycle of ivf including all meds up to 3 months post transfer, acunpuncture, icsi, flights, accommodation etc was only £5800 and I'm now 5 weeks pregnant with my first ever BFP!! The clinic use technology other clinics don't and throw everything at you to get you pregnant. Plus, I had an amazing 9 day holiday in beautiful Cyprus to boot!


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## DollyBlueBags (Aug 5, 2014)

Hiya 

Weve not started our treatment yet but been quoted around the 6K mark for IVF with ICSI, thats in the midlands 

XXX


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## dickinson34 (Feb 22, 2013)

Good Morning - I'm about to start IVF Lite in September ans it's costing £3325 including ICSI.
I had my bloods at my local surgery & my hubbies so no extra costs.

We are paying extra to have our tracking scans done at our local hospital at £120 a go. But only needed two last time.


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## DollyBlueBags (Aug 5, 2014)

I forgot to say that you need to look as the statistics as well as the price. 

A clinic might be cheaper but have poor results. Thats why that ARGC is really expensive because they are the best. 

You pay for what you get 

xx


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## Wishings15 (Mar 27, 2015)

I paid about £1,600 for each of my egg sharing cycles - currently on the second one, if it doesn't work am planning on doing the ivf guarantee package with Manchester fertility? 

Xx


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## Dinkyminky (Apr 26, 2014)

Hi there,

Based on all the initial tests (screening and immune) I had before starting IVF (paid at the clinic) and a couple of false starts due to hormone levels not right to start, my first cycle was £8,600.

For my second cycle (ICSI) my clinic had partnered with Access Fertility so this has helped spread the cost; £9,000 for 2 fresh cycles and all frozen (applicable for my age, there is another package for those under 37). The price includes all screening blood tests, scans whilst doing the cycle and extras after collection (embryoglue, time lapse monitoring etc).  I then paid for the drugs separately and for me this was £2,500 which are stimming drugs and Intralipids for immunes.

If not too far out from London for you, you could look at Newlife clinic in Epsom (partner with ARGC too).  They have a personal approach and something that I actual like.  We visited them on an open evening where we were given a tour and full details of pricing.  It's probably worth looking attending some open evenings as you then get a personal feel if the clinic is the right one for you before spending out lots of money.

xx


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