IVF fairness on the NHS - petition and campaign to end the IVF Postcode Lottery

[EJStrange]

Hi All

I've started this thread as I've set up a campaign to end the IVF postcode lottery on the NHS and I need your help with to get signatures on and share the parliamentary petition link below. It's not right that something as arbitrary as postcode should dictate the treatment we receive for infertility on the NHS. I started the campaign as I had to cancel a round of treatment halfway through when my GP misinformed DH and I that we could have 3 rounds of IVF on the NHS. As you can imagine, we were devastated. 3 months ago (after a year off due to depression) we paid to restart that round privately, but sadly my pregnancy ended in MC at just shy of 8 weeks.

The campaign has backing from Fertility Network UK, IVFBabble, The Dovecote.Org, and my MP Layla Moran who will be submitting an Early Day Motion to Parliament about this next week (Sept 2019).

The petition runs until Feb 2020 - please show your support for the campaign below, sign and share widely so we can get this issue heard. I'm very open for ideas about how to keep pushing this forward so do feel free to post these below!

If you're interested the campaign is also on Facebook and Twitter @IVFfairness.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/266747

That's true that I haven't experienced it (yet, hopefully I won't), I can only sympathise. Maybe as a compromise they could make it so you pay later kind-of deal so you pay off the bills in instalments rather than outright fee (I don't know if they already do that). But that would mean people can pay back what they've taken and still afford the procedure.

And by the same token a lot of people on this thread won’t have experienced conditions Which could be down to lifestyle choices such as diabetes or lung cancer but most would agree that life-threatening conditions are far more relevant than conditions which are to create life not save it.

FWIW I don’t think cosmetic surgery should be available either, however this isn’t a contest based on saying “well, this treatment is available so IVF shouldn’t be....” You could argue that for anything, but the line needs to be drawn somewhere.

As a recipient of ivf treatment on the nhs, I've signed. I too live in an area that doesn't fund treatments which is deeply unfair. There definitely should be equity.

I don't agree with cosmetic treatments on the NHS either so as a pp said it shouldn't be 'well X got their ears pinned so I should get IVF'. There needs to be a comprehensive review to remove non life threatening treatments and redirect the money accordingly so proper investment can be made. The NHS was designed to save lives and has grown way beyond it's orignal remit. It needs to be reigned in.

Also with regard to the smoking attributed lung cancer analogy, there are hundreds of cancers that are not attributable to lifestyle choices so you really cannot compare cancer treatment to IVF.

I have had fertility issues and MMC so do understand.

There needs to be a comprehensive review to remove non life threatening treatments and redirect the money accordingly so proper investment can be made. The NHS was designed to save lives and has grown way beyond it's orignal remit. It needs to be reigned in.

Well said. I strongly disagree with IVF being funded on the NHS. When people are struggling to get cancer treatment or mental health treatment etc due to a dire lack of funding, I really don't think we should then be wasting money on IVF.