Women and couples are losing out on the chance to become parents, often by virtue of where they live and what their Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is paying per cycle of IVF. This is because of dramatic regional variations in the availability of IVF on the NHS. This has to change.
Equal and fair access to treatment is one of the founding principles of our National Health Service - but it's not something we're currently delivering when it comes to IVF. I see the devastating impact infertility can have on many women, couples and families every day. I also believe it would be possible to level the playing field without any extra cost to the government.
At the moment, the number of IVF cycles offered to people varies depending on where they live. A small change to the current system would make a huge difference to people's lives by doubling the number of IVF cycles in some regions and thus increasing access to IVF.
Fertility problems affect one in six couples in the UK. With a growing trend for women to have children later in life, coupled with an increase in male subfertility due to various lifestyle factors, this figure will rise.
At present, couples trying to conceive can access IVF treatment on the NHS – but a range of caveats exist for them to qualify. These include a woman's age, whether either partner has a child from a previous relationship, or whether a woman's egg reserve is normal enough to merit treatment.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines recommend that women with fertility issues should be offered three full cycles of IVF on the NHS. But, due to a postcode lottery, less than 80% of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in England meet the recommended standard of three cycles.
The cost to the NHS of providing fertility treatment is significant, with figures of more than £200 million per year cited for IVF alone, and this cost is likely to keep rising. Within the current system and with the known pressures on NHS budgets, offering a fair level of treatment around the country is almost impossible. The result is that women and couples are losing out on the chance to become parents, often by virtue of where they live.
However, I believe the solution to end this discriminatory postcode lottery is to introduce a national tariff for IVF. At present there is a wide disparity in the price paid per IVF cycle by CCGs in different areas - with the price ranging from £2500 to over £6000 per cycle for the same treatment.
The cost of a cycle has a direct bearing on the number of couples who can access treatment within a CCG budget. This price differential is not only unjustified, but is needlessly preventing thousands of couples every year from becoming parents.
A national IVF cap or tariff that sets an upper limit for the price any CCG pays for IVF treatment would not only save the NHS money but would also give more couples around the country access to treatment within the existing budget.
The NHS already uses this kind of national price cap with medical treatments such as hip replacements and other operations, so that wherever you are in the country your local CCG will pay a standard set cost for your treatment. An upper limit per cost of IVF treatment cycle is already employed across other European countries such as Belgium, where it contributes to a broader level of access to fertility treatment for those who need IVF.
I believe that the national cap per IVF cycle should not exceed £3000-£3500 (all inclusive), which is significantly below the price many CCGs are currently paying. With a cap in place, CCGs will be able to use their collaborative purchasing power to make sure they receive the best value treatment.
This principle already enjoys broad support amongst many patient support organisations, charities and professional bodies in the sector. Following my letter sent to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt earlier this year I have now been granted a meeting to discuss the benefits a National IVF Tariff would bring – a great first step to levelling the playing field and helping our NHS to help more people. The time for action is not tomorrow, not someday in the future, but now.
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Guest post: "We must end the IVF postcode lottery"
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MumsnetGuestPosts · 24/11/2015 16:08
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