IVF rationing ‘puts mums and babies at risk’

DESPERATE women are putting the health of themselves and their babies at risk because of IVF rationing, fertility experts have warned.

Couples are increasingly being limited to one round of fertility treatment or must fund it themselves amid budget cuts by Clinical Commissioning Groups.

The rationing is leading many couples to ‘take risks’ by asking for multiple embryos to be implanted to improve their chances of conception, either in the UK or abroad where treatment is less regulated.

Experts say the cuts are having ‘unwitting consequences’, because twin pregnancies carry a far higher risk of complications. Rationing treatment costs the NHS money in the long term because of increased care costs, warns a report by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).

Twin pregnancies are seven times more likely to result in stillbirth with babies born ten times more likely to need neonatal care than babies born in single pregnancies, it found. Mothers are 2.5 times more likely to die during labour, with babies from multiple pregnancies far more likely to be born by emergency caesarean.

There is also a greater risk of miscarriage, pregnancy-induced high blood pressure and gestational diabetes compared with single pregnancies.

Sally Cheshire, chairman of the HFEA, said: ‘These decisions are about life and death… the commissioner [must] understand the cost of making those decisions. This report is intended to inform commissioning decisions so the risks to patients and costs to the NHS are minimised. There isn’t enough funding going into IVF and what is spent we don’t believe is being spent effectively.’

The HFEA suggests a 10 per cent reduction in the twin pregnancy rate from its current level would lead to a saving of £15million to the NHS.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is calling for Government funding of three full IVF cycles. Multiple births occur in 1-2 per cent of natural pregnancies and 11 per cent of assisted conceptions.