I am one of those people who chose to straightaway go to private for the first IVF. But that's because I chose the particular Dr because of her experience. I had severe endo. She was from a public hospital though and is still a visiting consultant there. I also chose private because of time factor - everything is done at the IVF centre. Scanning is done by my Dr. Medication is dispensed at the IVF centre too. It's convenient but waiting time is not always short although it's at a comfortable environment with free drinks etc. Service wise is also different. My Dr with her experience, also took the risk to do my IVF without me doing a surgery prior even though I had a cyst and adenomyosis. Not sure if public hospitals will take that risk - prolly because co-funding is involved too and I guess they wouldn't want the funding to go wasted thus have to eliminate as much risks as possible - which could be good as well. I think the success rates could also be linked to the fact that the Dr at private hospitals could avoid the protocols that didn't work for the patients especially if the patients have done their 3 ivfs at a public hospital.
Having said all that though, when I almost failed my IVF, I had told myself that I'd prolly go crazy spending so much but having nothing in return - I had only 1 normally fertilized embryo and if I had none, I'd prolly go crazy. Imagine spending 20k but did not even get to do the ET.
I've made appt for my 2nd IVF and this time I'm doing it a public hospital. Now that I'm more familiar with the procedures, I don't mind less time with the gynae and all the frills.