Gosport MP Caroline Dinenage has today called for a Parliamentary debate enabling MPs and Ministers to discuss the variation in access to IVF treatment across the UK during questions to the Leader of the House.
Caroline first became aware of the regional inequalities when she discovered that couples living in Fareham and Gosport had much tighter restrictions on their access to the fertility treatment than other parts of the country.
Caroline asked:
"Despite NICE guidelines suggesting that women up to the age of 42 should be allowed up to three rounds of IVF treatment, women in my local area are offered only one round of IVF treatment up to the age of 35 by the local Clinical Commissioning Group. Does the Leader agree that we should really have a debate on what effectively is a postcode lottery for fertility treatment in the UK?"
The Leader of the House, Andrew Lansley MP, replied:
"Well, I'm grateful to my Honourable Friend and she will no doubt recall that these are issues with which parts of the NHS have wrestled for a very long time. My view is, and I think the Government's view is, that Clinical Commissioning Groups in their responsibility for commissioning should take full account of the NICE clinical guidelines.
NICE have published fertility guidelines – they're not mandatory but they're there for a reason and the recognition that three full cycles of IVF and the age limit is evidence based and Clinical Commissioning Groups should look to the evidence, because not least if they do otherwise, very often, large amounts of money will have been spent on investigations of infertility but then the opportunity to maximise the chances of conception in the IVF that follows is undermined and it's important to use the resources that are used in investigation to support proper treatment."
Speaking outside the Chamber, Caroline said:
"It's saddening that couples in our region are being denied the opportunity to have children as a result of rules which do not correlate with national recommendations. I know that Fareham and Gosport Clinical Commissioning Group have previously had budget constraints that limited the amount of fertility treatment they could offer, but this year they have had one of the most generous budget increases in our region and, in light of that, I have been urging them to reconsider their approach."
Earlier this year Caroline wrote to Fareham and Gosport Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), urging them to reassess the regional policy and consider aligning it with the rules implemented in other areas of the UK.