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Custom byline text: helen puttick health correspondent The first report to show how health boards are performing against a new target to cut delays for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) shows centres in Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh are hitting the goal early. At the country's biggest unit, in Glasgow, it is a different story. Of those who started IVF in the city this summer, 63 per cent had waited for longer than the target of 12 months. Patients may already have spent two years trying to conceive naturally before they are referred for IVF and, as they approach their late 30s, their chances of success recede. Delays beginning treatment can have a significant impact on a couple's chances of starting a family. Professor Richard Fleming, an expert in fertility treatment at Glasgow University and founder of the Glasgow Centre for Reproductive Medicine, said: "The worst way you can treat infertility of any nature is to build in a delay." The only NHS IVF centre in Glasgow, the West of Scotland assisted conception unit at Glasgow Royal Infirmary (GRI), has experienced two turbulent years. In November 2012 there was a slump in the number of women successfully conceiving through IVF - and … Continue reading →