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NHS watchdog calls for end to 'postcode lottery' IVF

The health watchdog has called for an end to the postcode lottery of fertility treatments on the NHS in England. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence wants couples trying to conceive to have the same level of access to IVF drugs.

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IVF couple: 'We considered moving house'

A couple who used IVF to conceive said they considered moving house to better their access to fertility drugs and expressed concern over how the IVF postcode lottery will affect their future.

Claire and Phillip Bond, from Bolton, were helped by their families to fund their second round of IVF after the fertility drugs they had used on the NHS failed.

Phillip explained: "It's a bit sad to think now that we can live on one side of the street, have everything that a child could possibly want and on the other side is an identical family like ours and we get one, they get three."

IVF postcode lottery 'goes against' NHS principles

Doctors denying IVF in some parts of the country are "going against" the core principles of the NHS, one doctor has said.

Professor Gillian Leng, deputy chief executive at Nice

Infertility is a recognised medical condition that can affect people of any age and has a potentially devastating effect on people's lives.

It can cause significant distress, depression and can possibly lead to the breakdown of relationships.

Our updated guidance which published last year provides clear recommendations on the most clinically and cost effective way to treat people with fertility problems. Unfortunately, we know that not all areas are following our guidance to the letter.

This creates variations in treatment within the NHS, which...goes against the fundamental aims of the NHS.

– Professor Gillian Leng

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Nice draft recommendations on IVF and fertility

  • Couples should be referred to a fertility specialist after their first full year of unsuccessful attempts to get pregnant.
  • They should be referred sooner if they know of a clinical cause behind their infertility.
  • Women under 40 who have been trying to conceive are offered three full cycles of in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
  • Patients aged 40 to 42 are offered one cycle.
  • The quality standards also say that people who are of a reproductive age who are preparing to have treatment for cancer should be offered to have their eggs or sperm frozen and preserved.

Read: NHS watchdog: 'End IVF postcode lottery'

NHS watchdog: 'End IVF postcode lottery'

The IVF postcode lottery on the NHS needs to end if couples struggling to conceive are to have fair access to fertility drugs, the health watchdog has said.

Read: IVF pioneer: Fertility treatments could 'threaten humanity'

A recent study found 72% of the British public did not agree with menopausal women having IVF. Credit: PA

Treatments available to couples trying to get pregnant were set out by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) last year.

However, it has emerged many of the treatments are rationed or just not available from some health bodies, leaving some couples to pay thousands of pounds as they try to have a baby.

Nice recommended infertile couples where the woman is under the age of 40 are offered three full cycles of IVF treatment, but figures have shown health bodies are only offering one or none at all.

Read: Woman's ovaries 'reawakened'

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