Couples denied chance of a baby as NHS restricts IVF

THOUSANDS of couples are being denied access to effective fertility treatments as the NHS tightens its financial belt.

Just one in six health boards in England, 17 per cent, now provides the recommended three cycles of IVF to eligible couples.

NHS watchdog NICE advises that women under 40 should be offered all three cycles if they have failed to conceive naturally for two years.

But because the guidance is not mandatory, standards differ wildly across the country – and the number of clinical commissioning groups in England which offer all three cycles dropped from 24 per cent in 2013 to 18 per cent in 2014 and 17 per cent last year.

Most women undergoing IVF do not conceive on their first attempt, with only 30 per cent of first cycles resulting in a live birth.

But the odds of success increase with repeated attempts, with 45 per cent of women who have two cycles and 54 per cent who have three cycles having a baby.

One in six British couples has difficulty conceiving and, for many, IVF offers the only hope of a child. Around 50,000 women now undergo the procedure each year. Yet health officials across the country are cutting down on the number of cycles they will fund, with couples forced to pay an average of £5,000 per IVF cycle in private clinics or give up their dream of a family.

Health officials in Bedfordshire last night announced they were considering scrapping funding for IVF altogether, one of a handful of boards to go down the route of cutting specialist fertility funding.

Mid-Essex stopped funding its NHS fertility service in 2014, northeast Essex did so last September and South Norfolk announced its decision to follow suit in November. Basildon and Brentwood clinical commissioning group is also consulting on decommissioning its NHS fertility service.

In Wales and Scotland, all health boards fund two cycles for women under 40 and in Northern Ireland women are offered one cycle.

Susan Seenan, of the Fertility Fairness campaign group, said: ‘Infertility is a disease and is as deserving of treatment as any other medical condition.

‘We are calling on the Govern- ment to act now – to make it clear that while clinical commissioning groups have to operate within their financial budgets and consider the needs of their local healthcare population, they should not be implementing blanket bans on services.’

Professor Scott Nelson, a fertility expert at Glasgow University, said IVF was ‘a highly effective treatment that can bring pleasure to all generations within a family. I would question how many of us would deny potential parents and grandparents the joy of children’.

Experts think uptake of IVF has increased partly because more women put off starting a family while they concentrate on their careers, so that when they come to have a child their age means they have problems. But there are many other reasons for fertility problems, including medical conditions such as a hormonal imbalance.

Professor Geeta Nargund, medical director of Create Fertility which has five clinics in the UK, said there is no national standard tariff for how much fertility clinics charge the NHS, with costs varying from £2,500 to £6,000 per cycle.

‘If this cost was standardised, say at £3,000 to £3,500 per cycle, it would reduce financial pressure on the NHS,’ she said.

A spokesman for Bedfordshire clinical commissioning group said it would conduct an 11-week public consultation on proposals to stop funding fertility treatment, glutenfree foods and over-the counter medicines. She added: ‘No decision has yet been taken.’

Dr Amanda Doyle, a GP and cochairman of NHS Clinical Commissioners, said: ‘Unfortunately the NHS does not have unlimited resources. Some tough choices have to be made, which we appreciate can be difficult for some of our patients.’

The Department of Health said all health boards should be complying with NICE recommendations.