Sharp fall in number of NHS IVF procedures across UK, report finds
The NHS has significantly reduced the amount of IVF procedures it provides across the UK, leaving infertile women either unable to access treatment or forced to pay for it privately.
Barely one in four (27%) of cycles of IVF during 2022 were paid for by the health service – the lowest figure since 2008 and a sharp fall on the 40% which it provided in 2012.
The sharp fall in recent years is revealed in the latest annual report by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (Hfea), which regulates fertility treatment in the four home nations.
The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has told the NHS in England to give all women who qualify three cycles of IVF. However, that rarely happens, with provision being patchy.
Dr Kevin McEleny, the chair of the British Fertility Society (BFS), said women are the casualties of a widespread variation in the availability of IVF which is “heartbreaking and so unfair”.
“Cost-cutting by NHS funding bodies who should implement the Nice IVF recommendations [means] patients in one part of the country are unable to access NHS-funded fertility treatments that people in a similar situation elsewhere in the country can.
“Infertility is recognised as a health problem. Yet many people still see involuntary childlessness as a lifestyle choice, and this attitude reflects why it doesn’t get the NHS funding it deserves,” he added.
Source: The Guardian, 18 July 2024