Switching IVF Clinics: Getting a Second Opinion
Switching IVF clinic is more straightforward than most people expect. Your test results, cycle history and any embryos, eggs or sperm in storage can be transferred, Demeter Fertility charges no incoming handling or service fee to receive them, and we organise the transfer with your previous clinic for you.
You do not need to bring anything to a first appointment, although a few documents make it more useful. A significant proportion of our patients have been treated somewhere else first, usually because they want a different approach rather than because anything went wrong.
If you are dissatisfied with your current IVF clinic, feel you are being cycled through the same protocol without anyone asking why it is not working, or simply want a second opinion before committing to another cycle, that is a reasonable thing to want and it costs you a consultation rather than another full cycle.
Why people change fertility specialist
People switching IVF clinics rarely have a dramatic reason. The common ones are:
- Repeated cycles with the same protocol and no explanation of why it has not worked
- Being told everything looks fine when it plainly has not worked
- Being declined or discharged on age, AMH or BMI
- Wanting access to treatments the current clinic does not offer
- Feeling like a number rather than a patient
- Wanting a second view before spending money on another cycle
None of those require your current clinic to have done anything wrong. Clinics differ in approach, and an approach that suits one patient may not suit another.
What to bring when switching IVF clinic
You do not need to bring anything. We will see you regardless, and we can work from a fresh assessment.
That said, the appointment is more useful if you can provide:
- Any test results from the last 6 months. Anything older will not give an accurate picture of your current fertility and health profile.
- A history of previous cycles and treatment. Not every document, but the medications and doses you were on, and your egg collection and embryo outcomes.
- Your partner’s semen analysis, if applicable.
- A copy of your counselling reports, if you are using donor eggs or sperm.
If something is difficult to obtain, or your previous clinic wants to charge you a fee you would rather not pay, leave it. None of it is essential. We may also recommend testing your previous clinic did not request.
What an IVF second opinion actually involves
An initial appointment, nothing more complicated than that.
What makes it worthwhile is the depth of the review. Your history is gone through properly: your test results, how you responded to stimulation, how many follicles were recruited, how many eggs were collected, what fertilised, what reached blastocyst and what happened at transfer. That pattern tells a specialist considerably more than a summary letter.
You should come away with a direct view, including if that view is that your current plan is reasonable and you should continue with it. A second opinion that only ever says yes is not worth having.
Transferring IVF records, embryos and frozen material
This is the part people worry about most and it is the part we handle for you.
Embryos, eggs and sperm in storage at another clinic can be moved to Demeter Fertility. We do not charge an incoming handling or service fee to receive them, and we organise the transfer and storage arrangements with your previous clinic directly.
Records and test results transfer in the same way. The aim is that you are not starting from zero. Equally, we are not going to skip steps that matter just to make the switch feel faster, because an incomplete picture is how cycles get wasted.
Why patients switch IVF clinics to Demeter
No age limit and no BMI restriction, and no barriers based on relationship status or sexual orientation or complex diagnosis
Access to treatments many clinics do not offer, including ovarian rejuvenation, performed by Dr David Knight, who carried out Australia’s first intraovarian PRP procedure in 2017
DuoStim double stimulation, pioneered here by Dr Knight over a decade ago
Proper investigation of recurrent implantation failure rather than repeating a cycle
A dedicated Over 40s Fertility Program
Family owned, so clinical decisions are not made to a corporate template
If you have been declined elsewhere
Being refused treatment is a decision made by one clinic under its own policy, not a statement of what is medically possible. There is no national age limit for IVF in Australia, and thresholds vary between providers.
We assess every patient individually. That includes telling you honestly when we do not think treatment with your own eggs is likely to succeed and donor eggs are the more realistic path but not refusing to treat you if you decline this option. Hearing that from a clinic that had no policy reason to decline you is more useful than hearing it from one that did.
Book a second opinion
If you are considering changing fertility specialist, or switching IVF clinic after an unsuccessful cycle, an initial consultation will tell you whether a different approach is available to you and whether it is worth pursuing.
Consultations are available at Hurstville, Wahroonga, Liverpool and Westmead, and by telehealth for interstate and New Zealand patients. Please contact our team to discuss switching clinics or arranging a second opinion.
FAQs About Switching IVF Clinics in Sydney
Book an initial appointment. Your records, test results and any embryos, eggs or sperm in storage can be transferred from your previous clinic, and Demeter Fertility organises that transfer for you. You do not need to bring anything to the first appointment.
Demeter Fertility does not charge an incoming handling or service fee to receive embryos, eggs or sperm from another clinic. Your previous clinic may charge its own outgoing or release fee, which varies between providers and there may be fees associated with the transport company
You can request your records from your current clinic, or we can arrange the transfer with them. Test results from the last 6 months are the most useful, along with details of medications and doses, egg collection numbers and embryo outcomes.
No. The point of transferring records and frozen material is that you do not begin from zero. We may recommend additional testing your previous clinic did not request, because an incomplete picture is how cycles get wasted.
Yes. Second opinions are one of the most common reasons patients first contact us, and a consultation costs considerably less than another full cycle. You will get a direct view, including if that view is that your current plan is sound.
Repeated failure without an explanation is a reasonable trigger for a second view, particularly if the same protocol has been used each time without investigation or explanation. What matters is whether anyone has asked why rather than simply recommending another attempt.
Yes. Thresholds are set by individual clinics rather than by law. Demeter Fertility applies no age limit and no BMI restriction to assessment or treatment.