Starting IVF treatment

Your first steps with CARE

We can offer treatment options to help almost everyone have a child. When you're ready, we'd love to help you on your journey to the family you want to have. We will be with you every step of the way, providing the information and support you need.

Your first consultation

Before your first consultation with us, we’ll ask you to complete a short medical questionnaire about your fertility history and any health issues.

Your consultation day

We’ll need to do some basic health checks such as your Body Mass Index and blood pressure. We will also carry out a pelvic ultrasound scan, arrange a semen analysis if necessary and carry out some blood tests (checking for anti-mullerian hormone (AMH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) levels). If you are an NHS funded patient we’ll also need to do a test to confirm that you are not currently a smoker.
In your consultation we will review your medical questionnaire with you, and the notes from any previous treatments. We will explain the results from your ultrasound scan and the semen analysis. We'll talk you through your individualised treatment options, and provide you with written information and costings for your different options. If further tests are required to confirm your diagnosis and appropriate treatment, we'll arrange these for you. We'll also talk you through what support is available for you,  what the next steps will be should you wish to have treatment at CARE and answer any questions you might have at this stage.

Becoming a CARE patient

Arranging a consultation is simple. You just need to complete our short referral form and we will contact you to arrange a date and time for your consultation, and answer any questions you might have. We will always give you the guidance and support you need.

Book a Consultation

Discover our funding options

We know that when you're thinking about IVF, funding your treatment can be an important issue. We offer egg and sperm share options which help reduce the cost of your treatment.
We have also partnered with Access Fertility who provide IVF refund and multi-cycle packages. Access Fertility also offer payment options for their programmes at CARE Fertility.

Treatment criteria

Whilst we aim to help everyone, there are some situations where we are unable to treat certain patients. These criteria are outlined below:

  • Anyone who has a serious, pre-existing medical condition which would make it unsafe for them to become pregnant. If you think that this may apply to you then the first step might be to seek advice from your GP or an obstetrician.
  • Anyone who has a serious, pre-existing medical condition or a serious allergy which would make it unsafe for them to undergo a procedure under conscious sedation in one of our CARE clinics. Not all of our treatment options will need you to have a procedure (if you’re having ovulation induction, treatment with donor eggs or surrogacy for example) but if you think that this may apply to you then let our appointments team know and they can seek some advice before making your appointment.
  • Anyone with a BMI over 30 is encouraged to lose weight before treatment as success rates are better and pregnancy is safer. We do not offer treatment to  enable a woman to become pregnant or involving a procedure under conscious sedation with a BMI above 35 because of the increased risks of treatment and pregnancy. 
  • We ask all women aged more than 50 years who are seeking treatment to carry a child to see an obstetrician to get advice on the advisability and safety of a pregnancy in their individual circumstances
  • We can only provide treatment where a child born as a result of that treatment will have one legal parent who is aged 55 years or under.  This is because we want to make sure that children born as a result of the treatment we provide have a good chance of having a living parent up to the age of adulthood.
  • We can’t treat anyone aged less than 18 years old. This is because our registration with the Care Quality Commission only permits us to treat people aged 18 years or over.

Join our forum

Introduce yourself on our bulletin board and chat to some of our other patients. It can be really comforting to talk to others going through a similar experience, and they might have useful advice for those new to treatment. 

Talk to CARE

If you think you might be interested in one of our treatments, or if you’d like to talk to someone at CARE about your options, it's really easy to get started:

  • Book a consultation
  • Book in for a free 1-2-1 informal clinic visit
  • Speak to your local clinic to find out more.

You can do all of the above through our contact form or by calling your local clinic.    

New patient enquiries:
0800 5642270