Women over 35 face ban on IVF treatment

Women over 35 face being denied IVF as budget cuts cause a collapse in fertility treatment provision. Some NHS providers in the South West are considering restricting IVF to women struggling to conceive aged between 30 and 35, which would make them the first to limit services to such a narrow age range. Cost-cuts are increasingly rendering IVF a postcode lottery as NHS commissioning groups defy guidelines to save money.

WOMEN over the age of 35 face being denied IVF as cutbacks have effectively driven a collapse in fertility treatment provision.

NHS providers in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire are considering restricting IVF to women struggling to conceive aged between 30 and 35, which would make them the first to limit services to such a narrow age range.

Thirteen areas of England have introduced restrictions or stopped providing IVF completely since the beginning of the year, according to researchers.

Financial cutbacks are increasingly rendering IVF a postcode lottery as clinical commissioning groups (CCGS) defy national guidelines to save money.

Under health service guidance, those aged under 40 with fertility problems should be offered up to three cycles of IVF. Those aged between 40 and 42 should be offered one cycle if they meet certain criteria.

But data suggesting that just 12 per cent of trusts offer this means there has been a drop from 24 per cent in 2013, the lowest figure for 13 years. Five areas now have an outright ban on funding IVF, while almost two thirds offer only one cycle.

Figures provided to the Guardian by Fertility Network UK reveals that over the past four years the number of CCGS in England offering three full cycles has fallen by 46 per cent, from 50 in 2013 to 27 this year.

A spokesman for the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire CCGS, said: “We know how hard it can be for couples who are struggling to conceive and will continue to offer fertility treatment to hundreds of people every year. “Clinical evidence shows that treatment between the ages of 30 and 35 offers the highest chance of success.”

Prof Simon Fishel, who was part of a team that pioneered IVF in the UK, criticised the inequality of cuts.

He said: “What is the point of having Nice guidelines if they are not adhered to? If the country decides it will not fund IVF then fine, that is a decision that affects everyone ... but what I cannot abide is the local variation for something like this … You have to treat citizens equally and this is a deliberate inequality and obfuscation and allows some areas to say they are offering IVF but when it comes down to the detail, only a tiny fraction of those who need it have access to it.”

In Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, more than 2,000 people have signed a petition calling on the CCG to abandon plans to cut IVF funding. The CCG reportedly suggested it could save hundreds of thousands of pounds by cutting fertility services other than in exceptional circumstances.

The IVF crisis has fuelled a boom in “fertility tourism”, with increasing numbers turning to Europe for help, according to a report recently published by Fertility Network UK.