Report highlights IVF postcode lottery

7th June 2011 - An investigation by a group of MPs has found that 73% of NHS healthcare providers in the UK are not following official guidance because they fail to give couples with fertility problems three chances at IVF.

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Infertility (APPG on Infertility) said that some Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) in England and their equivalents throughout the rest of the UK were not offering any IVF treatment at all. They said the national picture amounted to a postcode lottery.

The National Infertility Awareness Campaign called the situation "unacceptable".

Freedom of information

MPs obtained the information by submitting Freedom of Information questions to 177 PCTs. Of the 171 which responded, 166 said they were offering couples IVF treatment, while five said they were not offering any.

At the time of the inquiry, the five PCTs not offering any IVF cycles were Warrington, Stockport, North Yorkshire and York, North Staffordshire and West Sussex.

Of the PCTs offering IVF to patients:

• 39% only offered one cycle of treatment;
• 26% offered two;
• A further 27% offered three cycles

Under guidelines issued by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in 2004, couples should be offered up to three cycles of IVF if the woman is between 23 and 39 at the time of the treatment.

The parliamentary report says that some PCTs impose restrictions that are not in the NICE guidelines, such as reducing the age limit below 39, or requiring that neither partner has a living child.

One in seven couples in the UK have fertility problems. Launching the report at Westminster, APPG on Infertility chairman Gareth Johnson MP said: “IVF is the creation of life and gives hope to thousands of infertile couples across the UK.  IVF treatment was invented in Britain and so more than any other country we should be championing its use."

Johnson added: "I believe that all PCTs should be offering three cycles of treatment as recommended by the NICE guidelines."

'Concerns': Health Minister

In a forward to the report, Health Minister Anne Milton said: "Many PCTs have made good progress towards implementing the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommendations on the provision of IVF treatment. I am aware, however, that a small number of PCTs with historical funding problems have temporarily suspended provision of IVF services. I have already expressed my concerns about this approach and would encourage all PCTs to have regard to the current NICE guidance."