Private IVF/ICSI

[happylass]

Hi all. We are going down the private route whilst on the shockingly long NHS waiting list for IVF/ICSI. Have had an initial appointment at a private clinic where it was suggested that we will probably do short protocol. We have a planning appointment next week where we will find out more. Just wondering if those who've been private have got their drugs from their clinic or gone elsewhere? Have read quite a lot about saving money by going elsewhere but I can't really find any up to date information about this. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Ginatonica]

Try Healthcare at Home pharmacy - you can get a quote and then if you decide to go with them, you just send them the prescription. Delivery is very convenient - you can pick the hour you would like the drugs delivered, and just pay for what you need.

We saved about £1000 on the drugs using HAH so it's worth investigating.

You can also get quotes from another couple of pharmacies for cost comparison - Asda pharmacy used to be highly rated as they sold IVF drugs at cost (not sure this is the case now).

Good luck with it all!

[tak1ngchances]

Yes we went to ASDA which is still cost price and significantly cheaper than other pharmacies. We phoned in our prescription and it was all waiting for us to collect.

[Turquoisetamborine]

Our private clinic offered all the drugs we would need for £600 so it wasn't worth shopping around as I couldn't find anywhere cheaper. I'm in the North East though which seems quite a lot cheaper for IVF than other areas.

[Ginatonica]

It will also depend which drugs you are prescribed, and the dosage you are on.

Gonal-F (used to stimulate the ovaries to produce eggs) is the really expensive one, and I was on a high dose of 450ui per day (roughly 4500ui overall) However, if you are on a lower dose, eg 150ui, you would only need around 1500ui overall and therefore it would cost significantly less.

All the other drugs I was prescribed didn't really break the bank - it was the Gonal-F which pushed the cost up.

It's definitely worth shopping around, although your clinic may well offer them at a reasonable price as well.

[lumen]

Good thread happy as I have been thinking about this too for our next round. Thanks for the advice ladies.

[happylass]

Hey lumen, fancy seeing you here!
Thanks for the advice all. I guess I'm going to have to find out exactly what I need before I make any decisions but I just wanted to go in well informed.
tak1ngchances did you just ring your local Asda pharmacy or is there some kind of central number for IVF drugs?

[Jelliebabe2]

Happy lass I emailed most pharmacies but just popped into my local Asda. I bought from them last time and saved about £300-500! This round Asda can up cheaper again but I haven't saved so much as doing a mini stim version. Good luck!

[sharond101]

Boots do gonal-f at trade price.

[Solaia]

You are going private whilst on the nhs waiting list? We become ineligible for funding if we have any private treatment. I'm assuming you're not the same?

We have decided to wait for the nhs given we are relatively young and there is a one year max waiting time guarantee. 6 months in... It's torture!

[happylass]

Solaia the NHS waiting list here is 18 months and we've only been on it 2 months . Given that I'm 36.5 and my AMH is on the low side of normal we just don't feel we can risk waiting. We are allowed 2 private cycles whilst waiting without it affecting our NHS entitlement which I suspect is a ploy to get waiting lists down
If I was younger I would definitely wait. Good luck to you - you're half way there!

[Solaia]

Sounds like a good plan. If we could have private treatment in the meantime without it affecting our nhs entitlement, we probably would.

Good luck!