CAREpay FAQs

We want to help everyone access the treatment they need to grow their family. CARE patients can access our CAREpay treatment packages, and each of our CAREpay Funding Programmes has an age restriction:

• CAREpay IVF Refund – under 40 years old
• CAREpay Multi-Cycle – under 45 years old
• CAREpay Donor Egg IVF Refund – 49 years old and under

Some of our CAREpay packages require a Medical Review to check eligibility for the programme. This Medical Review is conducted by your CARE consultant following your initial appointment, should you wish to apply for a CAREpay package.

You can learn more about our different CAREpay IVF Funding Programmes and who can access each package on our IVF refund and pre-pay plans page.

All of our CAREpay IVF Funding Programmes include all* the essential aspects of your IVF or ICSI treatment, so that you have the reassurance of fixed price treatment. The number of IVF cycles included will depend on which CAREpay package you choose. You can learn more about our different CAREpay IVF Funding Programmes and who can use each package on our IVF refund and pre-pay plans page.

Every CAREpay Programme includes:

Cycle monitoring in treatment

Your in-treatment appointments, bloodwork, cycle management, follow-up consultations post fresh cycle, the HFEA fee, and necessary ultrasounds.

• Appointments during monitoring
• Cycle management
• Follow-up consultation post fresh cycle
• HFEA fee
• Ultrasound(s)

Egg collection

• Mild sedation
• Follicular puncture for egg retrieval
• Ultrasound guidance for aspiration of ova

Embryology procedures

Our industry-leading laboratories provide embryo preparation for transfer, fertilisation, and culture of the embryos, preparation of sperm, and CAREmaps: our exclusive time-lapse embryo selection algorithm, developed through our study of the development of hundreds of thousands of embryos.

• Donor Egg Refund programme - Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) (additional fee applies for other programmes)
• Embryo preparation for transfer
• Fertilisation and culture of embryo(s)
• Sperm preparation
• CAREmaps

CAREmaps Time-Lapse Technology

Normal cost: £825

Cost on programme: Included in price

CARE Fertility was the first UK clinic to introduce time-lapse embryo imaging, and we developed this into our own unique embryo selection model: CAREmaps. Exclusive to CARE, CAREmaps has been shown to rank embryos according to the probability of a live birth, helping our embryologists select embryos for transfer which are most likely to have a higher chance of a live birth. The normal cost of CAREmaps is £825 but when you choose any of our CAREpay funding packages it is free.

Blastocyst Culture

Normal cost: £475–£570

Cost on programme: Included in price

Blastocyst culture involves extending the normal two or three-day lab development of an embryo to five or six days. This results in a potentially higher likelihood of a live birth. Blastocyst culture is included in all the CAREpay funding package fees, saving you between £475 – £570.

Embryo transfer

• Blastocyst culture
• Ultrasound guidance of embryo transfer
• One pregnancy ultrasound scan (6/7 weeks)

Freezing and storage

• As standard, we provide embryo freezing and storage for one year
• Unlimited frozen embryo transfers

* The cost of medication is not included in the price of CAREpay packages as the medication prescribed will vary depending on clinical indicators. This will be discussed with you by your CARE consultant.

We believe that listening to and treating every patient individually will help us give you your best chance of success. During your initial consultation with CARE, your fertility specialist will discuss the best treatment options for your personal circumstances, which may include IVF.

If you do need IVF treatment, you might wish to consider CAREpay, and your CARE consultant can discuss these IVF Funding Programme options with you.

As you may not need IVF to grow your family, pre-treatment costs are therefore not included in the price of CAREpay packages. These pre-treatment costs are:

• Consultation
• Semen Analysis
• Pre-treatment scans
• Pre-treatment blood tests and/or investigations

You may wish to use ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection) as part of your treatment. There are CAREpay funding options to include ICSI as part of your CAREpay package. An additional fee applied if you wish to include ICSI as part of your CAREpay Programme, with the exception of our Donor Egg IVF Refund Programme, as previously-frozen eggs can only be fertilised using ICSI. ICSI is therefore included in our Donor Egg IVF Refund Programme.

Medication is also not included in the price of CAREpay packages, as the medication prescribed will vary depending on clinical indicators. This will be discussed with you by your CARE consultant.

You may wish to add extra treatments to your CAREpay packages, such as PGT-A, Assisted Hatching, EmbryoGlue, and donor sperm. These treatments will need to be paid for separately.

In our CAREpay packages, we count a treatment cycle as when an egg collection has taken place (including on the rare occasion when no eggs are collected). All embryos created from this egg collection are part of this cycle. A fresh embryo transfer will take place and any remaining suitable embryos will be frozen, ready for the unlimited frozen embryo transfers that are included in all our CAREpay plans.

We understand that this will be very disappointing and we would classify this as a cancelled cycle. We would give you the option of paying a cancelled cycle fee. This would enable you to restart the cycle again.

Yes, all our CAREpay packages have a 3 year expiry date. This has been carefully considered and we believe this provides enough time for all treatments available in the package to be used. The 3 year expiry date is calculated from the date of your ­first egg collection.

You must complete all available cycles in your CAREpay package and use all frozen embryos before a refund is considered. If you choose to withdraw prior to this then no refund will be available.

Our CAREpay Funding Programmes will on average save patients money. It is important to consider that if you have a baby from your first cycle of treatment you would pay more using CAREpay. However, based on success rate data, patients often require two or more cycles of IVF to have a baby. If you need a second cycle, CAREpay offers savings on the cost of IVF compared with paying for the individual treatment costs.

If you choose a CAREpay package which offers a refund on unsuccessful treatment, you will be contacted directly by our Finance Team to arrange your refund. Once a refund has been confirmed, it can take up to 3 working days to be transferred to your account. Your CAREpay package will then be classed as complete with no further treatment options available, unless you wish to start another CAREpay programme.

The CAREpay packages require you to use any frozen embryos before moving onto your next fresh cycle. Read more about using frozen embryos in treatment.

Yes, you can have PGS/PGT-A but this would be payable directly to CARE Fertility as we do not include this within our treatment package price. You would also be required to pay the Freeze All CAREpay top up fee. Please be aware you would not be able to “batch” embryos so any viable embryos from your ­first cycle would be tested and transferred prior to your next egg collection.

You can find our costs in our Fee Schedules.

PGD/PGT-M is not currently available with any of our CAREpay packages.

Shared Motherhood (where one female partner donates eggs and her partner receives the embryo and carries the pregnancy) is not currently available with any of our CAREpay packages.

Like all our treatments, CAREpay packages must be paid for in full before starting your treatment cycle.

If you fall pregnant naturally during your CAREpay Programme, we would suggest that you call us as soon as possible to let us know. We would recommend that you wait until your clinical pregnancy scan before deciding to withdraw from the programme, should you wish.

We know that IVF success is a live birth, so if you sadly miscarry, we would review your package to determine if you have further treatment cycles available or if you would be eligible for a refund (this would depend on the package you are on). If further treatment is available, you would be able to start your next treatment cycle when you feel ready.

We would also support you however you needed, such as with free appointments with our specialist fertility counsellors.

If you decide to withdraw from your chosen CAREpay Programme before using any of your treatments or CAREpay services, we will refund the full amount of your CAREpay package, minus a £150 administration fee. If you have already started your CAREpay Programme when you decide to withdraw, you will not be able to receive a refund.

If you withdraw from a CAREpay Programme, your package will be classed as complete, and you would need to reapply if you wished to use CAREpay treatment packages in the future.