Ban on free infertility treatment to be lifted

Ban on free infertility treatment to be lifted

7:10am Wednesday 23rd April 2014 in News By Barry Nelson, Health Editor

NHS commissioners in North Yorkshire are to end a controversial ban on funding free infertility treatment for eligible couples.

In recent years the former primary care trust in North Yorkshire refused to fund free in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment to protect existing services, unlike most of the rest of England.

But the new GP-run Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) set up last year has decided it can now afford to provide free IVF treatment to eligible couples.

This means that women in the area under the age of 40 who are having difficulty conceiving will now be offered up to two cycles of IVF treatment.

Where a couple meet the specified criteria and a woman is under 40 years of age, the CCG will fund up to two full cycles of IVF, and where a woman is between 40 and 42, one full cycle.

Dr George Campbell, lead for planned care at the CCG, said: We recognise how the old policy may have seemed unfair for local couples, especially when people living in other parts of the country have access to such treatment.

We understand the impact that infertility can have on peoples lives and IVF is something that we, as the leaders of the local NHS, have been keen to introduce since we were established.

We feel that the option we have chosen will benefit a significant number of couples in the area whilst still allowing us to maintain healthcare services for all of the local population.

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Ban on free infertility treatment to be lifted