NHS vs private treatment: Is there a difference?
Sure, private clinics look fancier – but do they actually provide a better service?
Good morning! Have you ever wondered what the difference is between private and NHS-funded IVF? Well, wonder no more: I’ve done the work for you.
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Gabby will see you on Tuesday!
Emma xxx
Looking back, while I was doing IVF I was almost definitely depressed. The cycle of hope and misery, the loss of control, the constant hormones – they all contributed to a feeling that the world was crumbling around my feet.
Do you know what didn’t help with any of that? My clinic. I’ve never divulged on the podcast which clinic it was, but I think I’m safe to say that it was a busy one in London which takes both NHS and private patients.
When I was doing NHS treatment, this clinic was a nightmare. I’d spend literal hours waiting for someone to answer the phone to me so I could tell them about spotting or ask a question about oestrogen patches. Quite often, I’d be listening to hold music for 45 minutes or so, then the phone would suddenly begin to ring – and continue for another 20 minutes. Then it would simply cut off. Call over. One hour of my life: gone. My query: unanswered.
After my first embryo transfer, I followed the instructions the clinic had given me and emailed to say the round had failed. I immediately received an auto-reply: “If your enquiry is urgent we will respond same day [sic].”
They did not respond the same day. Or the next day. Or the day after that. My total, all-encompassing grief was, I supposed, not “urgent”. Not wanting to cause a nuisance, I continued to wait for a response – until a week later, when John suggested gently that perhaps it was time for me to call them.
Five years after that, I reluctantly returned. I’d had a successful round, meaning I no longer qualified for NHS treatment — so I went private.
It was a different world. My enquiry email was answered within 24 hours: “Please visit our website to learn about our team and choose your consultant for your personalised consultant-led care,” it said. By that afternoon, I had made an appointment with the consultant. We met her less than a month later; we left the appointment with her personal email address and the email and phone number of her secretary.
Earlier this month someone asked me what the differences are between doing IVF privately and through the NHS. Obviously, cost is the biggest part: if you can avoid spending an average of £5,000 (but realistically, probably, more), then let’s be honest – you almost certainly will. Private clinics are fancier and probably better located. There might be a self-service coffee machine in the waiting room.
But beyond the surface details, what are the actual benefits of private treatment? If you have savings or you are on a waiting list and nearing your local independent care board’s (ICB’s) age limit, you might be trying to decide whether going private is worth it. Here are six things I have learned (I’ve kept identities anonymous for privacy reasons, and because the clinicians didn’t have their employers’ authority to comment on this).