Availability Of IVF Treatment In UK Still Poor Compared With Rest Of Europe

Main Category: Fertility
Article Date: 02 Jul 2009 - 1:00 PDT

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Commenting on the news announced today by ESHRE's European IVF monitoring consortium on the improvements in the quality, safety and efficacy of ART, Clare Lewis-Jones MBE, Chief Executive of Infertility Network UK said "We are angry that although the UK pioneered infertility treatment, we are still among the lowest providers in Europe of NHS treatment, and these figures show that availability in the UK is less than one third of that in Denmark. Recent measures announced by the Government to encourage implementation of the NICE Guideline have led to an improvement in the provision in some areas but more needs to be done by Primary Care Trusts in England to ensure that patients have equal and timely access to the full range of treatment recommended by NICE, and to tackle the ongoing variations in provision that exist across the country.

Ms Lewis-Jones went on to say "Although there has been an improvement recently in the provision of treatment by some PCTs, there still remains considerable variation in the criteria used to determine whether or not couples can access treatment. We welcome the recent measures announced by the Government to encourage implementation of the Guideline but particularly with the move towards single embryo transfer (SET) more needs to be done by the PCTs to fund three full cycles as recommended in the NICE Guideline and to standardise the access criteria they use to determine who can access NHS treatment and allow couples to have the treatment they need to help them have their family. To be so far behind other countries in Europe in the provision of fertility treatment is totally intolerable"

Source
Infertility Network UK