If you're not planning to hold an EASA licence, that would be difficult - you would need at least an EASA PPL(H) to hang it on which would mean 7 exams. It would still be 7 if you did the CPL(H), but if you were going that way it would be more economical to do the ATPL(H) which includes the IR.
And yes, you would need to do consolidation which is 10% of the study hours in the classroom. You have to do that for any EASA approved course.
As a further tip, before you do the EASA IR, you need about 60 hours of seriously accurate flying under your belt, not the normal VFR slopping around
Phil