Caroline cried cycling to work after discovering she was going through early menopause. She received the diagnosis over the phone from her GP after months of brain fog, depression and other unexplained symptoms. Shortly afterwards, she ended up in a fertility clinic in Greece.
At the time, three years ago, then aged 34, Caroline, who did not want to give her full name and who lives in London, knew she wanted children but her options in the UK were limited. There was a year-long waiting list for a single cycle of IVF in her area, plus another year’s wait for egg donation. “The length of wait was too long,” Caroline said.
She could have gone private in the UK but decided instead to fly almost 2,000 miles for treatment. “In the end, it feels a bit horrible to say, but the decision came down to cost,” she said.
If you choose to receive IVF treatment via egg donation, the average cost of a cycle in Greece is between €4,200 (£3,610) and €6,000 (£5,160). If you are using your own egg, it can cost between €2,500 and €3,500 for one cycle. Caroline paid €6,000 for an IVF cycle with a donor egg. With travel and accommodation on top, as well as embryo storage, medications and scans, it cost about £9,000.
In the UK, costs for IVF range from anywhere between £3,500 and £7,000 a cycle. If you need donated eggs, it costs from £7,000 to £12,000.
Like Caroline, a growing number of Britons are going abroad for fertility treatments. GlobMed, a company that helps people navigate private healthcare globally, said its Greek partner clinic had seen the number of its British patients grow year on year by between 15% and 20%.
It expects Britons to become about 20-30% of its total international clients by 2026. Czech clinics, with low costs, have had the biggest increase in the past few years, doubling the number of clients from the UK since Covid.
The Turkish Healthcare Travel Council said 2,623 Britons came to Turkey for IVF treatment in 2021 and 4,147 in 2022.
The rise is due to long waits on the NHS and restrictions around who can seek help – the latest report from the UK’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) shows 63% of IVF was funded privately in 2021, compared with 52% in 2019 – and the spiralling costs of private treatment in the UK.
Dr Channa Jayasena, a reproductive endocrinologist working at Imperial College London and Hammersmith hospital, said patients often discussed options abroad because of costs. “The UK has two very different models of pricing: one is the NHS, which is shrinking, and the other one private. It is hard to afford IVF treatment in the UK, so people are visiting other countries as it is a cheaper option.”
But it does not come without challenges. “It is a significant burden to take a month out of work and consider whether to bring your partner for some or all the treatment. Being away from loved ones and work is also challenging,” Channa said. He added that practices could also be different and “unscrupulous practitioners” could take advantage of couples.
Caroline found out about treatments abroad through a Facebook group. One factor that made her pause for thought was that in Europe there are different rules around anonymity of egg donors. “In Greece, the donor would be permanently anonymous, compared to your child being able to find out about them when they turn 18 in the UK,” she said. She wanted her son to have the option of finding out about his genealogy.
“It was a tricky decision for us, and unfortunately we did have to make it in the end based predominantly on costs,” she said. “The clinic was wonderful from day one.”
Caroline flew out in July 2020 for the transfer, and her son was born in 2021. She hopes to return to Greece for IVF again in the future.
Laura Westwood, 44, also went for treatment abroad after finding it challenging in the UK. She had one cycle on the NHS but then put on weight and could not receive a second. She spoke to others who encouraged her to look abroad and also ended up in Greece. She had one cycle treatment there and then lost weight so she could have another on the NHS. When this failed, she had further ones in Greece and fell pregnant after her sixth IVF cycle, giving birth in April 2021.
“It cost around £5,000 for each full cycle we did, but in the UK it would have been a few thousand pounds more. Even with flights and everything else abroad it still worked out cheaper,” she said.
Westwood had unexplained infertility, so she wanted to keep trying, and she said the experience was a “rollercoaster”. The Greek clinic was very attentive and offered a good level of service, she said.
Her advice is to do your research and reach out to others who have spoken about their experiences. She knows of others who travelled to the Czech Republic for treatment and had negative experiences due to confusion over pricing and hidden costs.
Rachel Cutting, the director of compliance and information at the HFEA, an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care, said to be aware of “hidden extras”. Also, to think about what you would do if there are complications from treatment and you need medical care.
“Not all countries have the same regulation as the UK for fertility treatment,” she said. “From an anonymity point of view [when it comes to egg donation], you might want an anonymous donor but today [with DNA testing] is anyone really anonymous? We would always strongly encourage parents to tell their child they were donor conceived at an early age; research shows that makes it acceptable and they grow up in an honest and open environment”.
Channa’s advice if you are thinking of going abroad is to see if companies have published data on their success. He also suggested looking on messageboards for experiences. “It is not ideal but we are dealing with people who have no other option. It begs another question: is there a way of making fertility treatments more affordable? If we accept the NHS is under strain then are there different or new technologies that can offer something to these couples?”
