Thousands of couples are being denied NHS fertility treatment despite pledges made

Thousands denied fertility treatment as half of England's health authorities fail to honour pledge - Guardian

Extract:

"Thousands of couples are being denied NHS fertility treatment despite a government pledge of a full IVF cycle for those eligible by April 2005, a Department of Health survey has found.

The survey, the first monitoring by officials of how local NHS provision measures up to national guidelines, reveals that more than half of England's health authorities fail to provide the most basic treatment of a full IVF cycle, including freezing and replacement of embryos not transferred in the initial cycle.

Many women and their partners who fulfil strict criteria for a free IVF cycle are being denied it altogether, while others are receiving partial treatment which falls short of guidelines set up to standardise provision.

A recent all-party parliamentary report found that at local level the NHS regarded treatment of infertile couples as a low priority, with trusts "reluctantly funding the barest minimum" of treatment, if at all. Primary care trusts have refused treatment to smokers, to those considered too fat or thin, and to couples who have had sterilisation procedures.

The guidelines, issued in February 2004 by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice), advise that eligible couples should be offered up to three cycles of IVF if the woman is between 23 and 39 years old. The measures were welcomed by John Reid, the then health secretary, who promised "at least one full cycle" to those eligible by the next year, with the NHS to work towards full implementation of three free cycles.

But the survey, by Infertility Network UK on behalf of the Department of Health, revealed an "enormous variation" in the social criteria set by trusts, with the female age range differing from the guidelines. It led to a situation where a 36-year-old woman in Wiltshire was told she was too old to have the treatment, while a 28-year-old in the Thames Valley heard she had to wait eight years for treatment because only those aged 36 to 39 were eligible."

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