As we know, one in seven couples (14%) will have difficulty conceiving a child and yet only 2% of births in the UK are the result of fertility treatment. That’s a significantly large gap between need & provision but the Scotish NHS are putting in measures to adress that imbalance and offer an additional lifeline to those battling with infertility.
Following recommendations made by the National Infertility Group the Scottish government want to widen access to fertility treatment to make it the “fairest and most generous in the UK”.
For the first time, couples in Scotland who have children from a previous relationship will be able to have IVF treatment on the NHS. As well as this Scotland want to increase the number of IVF cycles offered from two to three as a standard commitment from April 2017. This would bring it inline with the guidence provided by NICE that recomends that all eligable women under the age of 40 should be offered 3 full cycles of IVF.
This will put Scotland well ahead of England whose overall commitment to offering IVF is far more patchy and totally dependant on individual Clinical Commissioning Groups – putting you at the mercy of a postcode lottery. In 2014 every Clinical Commissioning Group in England offered two treatments of IVF but now only 57% do with many areas offering only one round of treatment.
Campaining group Fertility Fairness is fighting to improve rights to equal IVF treatment for the UK as a whole and put an end to the IVF the postcode lottery. Keep up to date with the latest developments and find out what treatment is offered in your area by visiting the Fertility Fairness website.
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