To wonder how, with all the funding cuts in the NHS, fertility treatment is still funded?

[Misfitless]

I know I will be flamed.

I considered name-changing, but it's cowardly, so I will take the flack.

Maybe infertility treatment has been cut, and I just haven't heard about it, but I have certainly heard that some cancer treatments have been cut.

I know it's easy for me to say, I have not had fertility issues, but I genuinely think that if I did, I wouldn't go down the route of expecting the NHS to fund it.

I am the only person on MN who feels this way/the only one who will admit it?

Fertility treatment isn't just about having babies. It can be done to help ensure a child won't have a health condition that their parent or their sibling has - Cystic Fibrosis is one such condition that can be screened - funding that treatment likely saves the NHS a ton of money when compared to the costs of treating someone with a life long very involved serious medical condition.
And most places severely limit how much fertility treatment people can have and in what circumstances anyway.
So I think YABU

Because fertility issues can be a sign of other health issues that need to be addressed

Because infertility is a medical condition and deserves to be treated as such

I can see where you are coming from but really it's about treating the whole person and I can imagine that infertility could leave people prone to depression and other mental health problems just from the stress of it all so if - within reason - that can be helped then great.

if you're expecting a flaming I expect you've seen the many threads on this subject that have came before and the emotional and emotive answers given. If those answers don't change your view then fair enough, but do you really want everyone to share their painful experiences, just for you?

I agree OP. When there are people dying from conditions that could be treated then the NHS shouldn't be funding things like this. I would also include things like cosmetic surgery and gastric bands.

Re gastric bands think about it. Which is going to cost more in the long run the counselling and band treatment which is fairly effective in helping people lose weight therefore become healthier or years of treating obesity related illnesses?

Preventing death isn't the be all and end all of medicine you kno.

I think it's far more deserving of funding than some other things, cosmetic surgery when it's not reconstructive for example. Boob jobs and gastric bands are less "deserving" in my opinion than infertility, but it's all relative I suppose and depends what particular hand you've been dealt what your opinion will be!

If your going to walk down that path... Drug/ alcohol addicts with bad kidneys, fat people with diabetes, horse riders with broken limbs.... Where do you draw the line?

N.b. I am being the Devils advocate. Not expressing my view.

If you go down this route, why not cancel all maternity services, it is a life style choice after all!

I agree with your sentiment, but I don't like the comparison with cancer that is often made in this discussion.

There are many many illnesses that are not properly funded, and it's not just about treatments, it's about research as well.

I have no idea why infertility is given funding ahead of other things, it doesn't make sense at all to me.

As someone who works for the nhs I can tell you there are a 1000 other places funding should be cut before fertility treatment (said as someone who is not eligible for the funding) But then the same can be said for cancer treatments that have been cut. In my opinion the full nhs & the way budgets are handled need a massive overhaul.

You can probably guess from my name where I wish there was more funding for research and treatment. But it isn't glamorous enough to warrant it. Same for many many other chronic life affecting illnesses simply because they won't kill you.

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I know a woman who is having NHS funded fertility treatment.

She already has 3 kids ffs

Is fertility treatment funding ring fenced within the NHS I am wondering. Maybe that area is in line for cuts?

Nhs funded fertility treatments don't always mean full blown ivf.

If I'm lucky to conceive again due to recurrent miscarriages I've been prescribed progesterone and aspirin on the NHS. Still technically falls into the realms of fertility treatments

I take it you missed the thread last week which also debated whether fertility treatment should be funded by the NHS?

You are probably not aware that IVF is rationed - different trusts have different criteria: ages, the number of cycles available, whether either partner has children from a previous relationship. It's not as simple as rocking up to the doctor and getting unlimited rounds of IVF until you get pregnant.

One of the frequent comments on the last thread is that IVF shouldn't be available because 'having children is a lifestyle choice' and 'If you can't afford IVF you shouldn't have children'. So, OP, would you be prepared to pay for all your antenatal care, the birth, and postnatal care, because having children is a lifestyle choice and the money saved could be used to improve cancer treatment?

Or, did you have £5k in the bank before you got pregnant to prove you could afford to have a child?

If the answer to both of these is 'no', then you're a hypocrite to query why IVF is funded by the NHS.

And I'm guessing you haven't spent two years TTC, gone for all the tests, been told you'd need IVF, felt like a complete failure, then have to ask your PIL for a loan of £5k to fund IVF.

I live in the one area of England where IVF isn't available on the NHS, and it's soul-destroying. I was lucky enough to fall pregnant naturally after going through all this, but part of me expects this pregnancy to go wrong, because we can't be that lucky.

Preventing death isn't the be all and end all of medicine you kno.

Nope, but in times of crisis it should be.

Not that I'm saying the NHS is in times of crisis, but if it were to be.

I think they should do a lot more tightening of the ship before they start to cut fertility and gastric band/ cosmetic surgery.

Recently had 2 week stay in hospital and the amount of sheer wastage is unbelievable. Ward rounds where you see a different doctor every single day and they have to be filled in on every little detail which just wastes time. Not prioritising patients who just need to be OK'd by doctor before they can leave left bed blocking until teatime. Wasted medication, so much wasted medication! My injections would change on a sometimes daily basis, whole 5 pack thrown in the bin. The huge handovers by staff that are probably OTT. Needing a trained professional to administer your paracetamol. Its paracetamol ffs I think most people know how to take a tablet every 4 hours.

Pharmacies lining their own pockets by claiming back prescription costs on a packet of 19p RRP paracetamol. Shambolic.

Yes, once the sheer wastage was cut out, if more was seriously needed in order to ensure patients with life threatening conditions got treatment then I would cut infertility treatment.

So not really sure if YABU or not.

Another one of these. ho hum.

You'd think the only things the nhs provides is cancer care and fertility treatment based on these threads.

Infertility is caused by health problems - obstructed tubes (male or female), ovarian cysts, hormone imbalances, premature ovarian failure and so on. The NHS treats lots of non- life threatening conditions. Why single out fertility?

Everyone else on the thread, feel free to answer my two questions about whether you could have paid for health care/ had money in the bank before having children. I've noticed a lot of posters on these threads avoid those kind of tricky questions, funnily enough.

I agree mostly (when I'm stuck on lists) but you don't actually get a lot as far as I know. I don't think it's unreasonable to give people a bit of a chance. You aren't entitled to get a baby, just a bit of treatment. That's a decent compromise.

Mental health needs more money. But I think it could come from the defence budget before it comes from elsewhere in the NHS.

eurochick that's not true. It's the infertility that is treated for the sake of infertility. It's not about holistic health or something. No-one is treating my ovarian cysts even when they cause me massive pain because I'm not trying for a baby.

Ellie I'll have a go at answering in the spirit of debate but I'm in fact on the fence about wether you may be right.

Here goes In a sentence... I'm already pregnant. If the NHS didn't provide care for myself and my unborn child then things could quickly turn into a life threatening situation where myself or my babies life would be taken. In fact this it true for myself as first born got "stuck" and needed mighty intervention to make sure mum and baby were ok.

This argument assumes that people will get pregnant because well, isn't the whole animal kingdoms primal urge to survive and reproduce? And we all know no contraception is 100% effective, and we all know that babies are born to rapists etc etc. so people will become pregnant, pregnancy has a high chance without medical intervention of causing death to mother and child.

This is an interesting debate