Fertility Treatment Costs – The Ultimate Breakdown

It’s no secret that private fertility treatment is expensive, and so it’s crucial to gain an understanding of what you can expect to pay for the most common procedures. In this piece, we reveal the price of fertility treatment in the UK, including pre-treatment consultations and investigations; treatment packages like IVF, IUI, FET, egg freezing, surgical sperm retrieval and surrogacy; and additional services. We then go on to have have a brief look at the guidelines for gaining treatment on the NHS and means of going aboard for affordable fertility treatment. But, before we get into the stats, let’s understand why clinics in the UK deliver often vastly different treatment quotes for similar sounding procedures.

Over to Sophie Braybrook…

Estimating Clinics’ Treatment Prices

Private clinics’ procedures vary greatly in cost because they set their prices depending on their location and the procedures involved within each package, among other factors. When researching for this piece, we’ve reviewed fertility treatment costs from the likes of Harley Street Fertility Clinic, the Women’s Wellness Centre and The Agora Clinic and other leading fertility clinics in the UK.

Pre-Treatment Costs

It’s important to have pre-treatment consultations and assessments so the experts can advise the best treatment for you. Necessary pre-treatment processes are often included within treatment packages (depending on the fertility clinic), but for those seeking pre-treatment advice and assessments separately, here’s what you can expect to pay:

• Medical consultation – around £200

• Nurse consultation – around £100

• Review/follow up consultation – around £120

• Virology screening (Hep B, Hep C and HIV) – around £100

• Nurse planning appointments – £200

• Semen analysis – £100 – £200

• Fertility counselling – £70 – £100

• Ultrasounds – £150 – £250

• Fertility assessments/MOTs/check-ups:

  –  Female (hormone blood test with AMH (ovarian reserve), scan and consultation) – £390 – £500;

  – Male (semen analysis and consultation) – around £200

  – Heterosexual couples – around £525

  – Female couples – around £650

Treatment Packages

Below, we’ve detailed some of the most common fertility treatment packages, the procedures involved, and what patients can expect to pay for them.

Making fertility treatment more affordable: When choosing your clinic, it’s worth noting those with the option to pay for treatments in more instalments!

IVF Packages – £3500 – £5000

IVF – where the egg is fertilised with sperm in a laboratory before being placed back in the womb – and it is completed with either a couple’s own egg/sperm or with a donor egg/sperm. Success rates for women under 35 are around 30%, which means many couples require multiple cycles.

This fee might include some or all of the following:

• Consultations

• Ultrasound scans

• In-treatment hormone blood tests

• Egg retrieval

• Sedation

• Embryo transfer

• Blastocyst culture

• Monitoring scan

• Follow up consultation

Possible extras:

• Additional treatment planning consultation – around £175

• Stimulation drugs – £1200 – £2000

• Frozen embryo transfer – around £1550

• Embryo freezing and storage for one year – around £600

• ICSI – around £1250

• Donor sperm: one cycle – around £850; three cycles – around £2000

• Additional blood tests – AMH, FSH, LH, TSH, Prolactin, Oestrogen, Testosterone, Syphilis, Rubella, Chlamydia – around £50 per test

• Trans-vaginal assessment scan – around £190

• Sedation for embryo transfer – around £350

• HFEA fee £80 (HFEA is a government body that ensures fertility clinics comply with the law)

Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) Package – £800 – £1850

IUI is another of the most common fertility procedures, involving inserting sperm directly into a woman’s womb. Partner or donor sperm can be used.

This fee includes some or all of the following:

• Virology screening

• Nursing consultations

• Sperm preparation

• Follow up

• Ultrasound scans

• In-treatment hormone blood tests

• Early pregnancy scan

Possible extras:

• Treatment planning consultation – around £175

• Stimulation drugs – £250 – £350

• Counselling – £100

 Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET) – £1200 – £1550

FET is the transfer of frozen embryos from a previous IVF cycle into the womb. The procedure gives a patient another opportunity of pregnancy without undergoing a full IVF cycle again.

This fee includes some or all of the following:

• Consultations

• Follow up

• Ultrasound scans

• Screening tests

• Early pregnancy scan

Possible extras:

• Medication – around £250

• HFEA fee – £80

Read More: How to Prepare for Your Frozen Embryo Transfer

Egg Freezing Package – £900 – £9500

Egg freezing is most often used when a woman wants to preserve her eggs to start a family in the future. The procedure involves collecting, freezing and later thawing the eggs.

You’ll notice a large price discrepancy with this treatment; the price largely depends on the length of storage of the eggs and number of cycles.

This fee includes some or all of the following:

• Virology screening

• Consultations

• Ultrasound scans

• Egg retrieval

• Egg freezing and storage from 1 – 10 years

• Counselling

Possible extras:

• Stimulation drugs – £1200 – £2000

• Egg storage per additional year – around £350

• Three cycles of egg freezing – around £9500

Surgical Sperm Retrieval (SSR) – £1500 – £2500

SSR is the retrieval of sperm for the fertilisation of an egg or freezing for future use.

This fee includes some or all of the following:

• Sperm retrieval

• Sperm analysis

• Virology screening

• Follow up consultation

Possible extras:

• Sperm freezing and storage – around £425 for one year

• Sedation – around £300

Surrogacy – £4000 – £10,000

Surrogacy is the process whereby a woman bears the child of another person or couple trying to conceive.

The laws behind surrogacy in the UK and abroad are pretty confusing, so if you’re considering this procedure, we’d strongly advise you obtain independent legal advice before making any commitments.

Surrogacy with donor eggs – around £10,000

Surrogacy with own eggs – around £9,000

These fees include some or all of the following:

• Consultation

• Viral screening

• Counselling

• Ultrasound to monitor surrogate cycle

• Sperm preparations

• IVF insemination

• Egg collection under sedation

• Blastocyst culture

• Embryo transfer

• Pregnancy scan

• Follow up consultation

Possible extras:

• ICSI – around £1250

• Donor screening tests – around £1500

• HFEA fee – £80

Additional Costs and Services

Holistic and Supportive Treatments:

• Acupuncture – £85 – £145

• Nutritional advice – £50 – £80

• Counselling – around £100

Additional Blood Tests:

AMH, FSH, LH, TSH, Prolactin, Oestrogen, Testosterone, Syphilis, Rubella, Chlamydia, Thyroid antibodies (TPO) – around £50 per test

Sperm Freezing:

• Sperm freezing – around £550 (includes one year of storage)

• Further storage – around £350 per year thereafter

 Miscellaneous:

• Needles and syringes – £10 – £25

• International import/export of eggs, embryos or sperm – £300 – £900

• Overseas patient admin fee – around £300 per cycle

Cancellation Policies

As with fertility treatment costs, clinics set their own cancellation policies and refund processes. This figure varies between clinics and depends on the treatment arranged and when the treatment is cancelled.

Are you NHS eligible?

If you’re based in the UK, and your personal circumstances fit the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE’s) guidelines, you may be eligible for IUI and IVF on the NHS. Alternatively, look into fertility grants here.

Affordable Fertility Treatment Abroad

There are many reasons why people choose to go abroad for their fertility treatment, and one of the most prominent is the cost. Fertility treatment costs vary across the world, but a round of IVF, which costs around £4,000 in the UK and $8,000 in the US, is as low as £1,500 in European countries like Greece, Czech Republic and Latvia.

When travelling abroad for fertility treatment, expenses like travel, accommodation expenses and time off work are greater, however, even with these additional costs, the overall price is often significantly cheaper.

Tempted to head overseas? Check out these highly regarded European fertility clinics: EmbryoClinic in Greece, Barcelona IVF and Cyprus’s Embryone.