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How is funding of fertility managed in England?

Publication of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) Fertility guideline in 2004 sought to address the issue of large variations in the local provision of fertility services. The aim of the guideline was to ensure that everyone, no matter where they lived, would have equal access to fertility and therefore eliminate the so-called ‘postcode lottery.’

NICE recommended that the NHS provide three full cycles of IVF to all couples where the woman is aged between 23 and 39 (treatment should start before the woman’s 40th birthday) and has an identified cause of infertility or has had unexplained infertility for at least three years.

Speaking after the publication of the NICE guideline on fertility services, the then Government Health Minister John Reid said “As a first step, by April next year I want all PCTs, including those who at present provide no IVF treatment, to offer at least one full cycle of treatment to all those eligible. In the longer term I would expect the NHS to make progress towards full implementation of the NICE
guidance.” However, some PCTs seem to have misunderstood this advice and still offer only one cycle of IVF treatment on the NHS.

Sometimes a full cycle of treatment is not funded as only a fresh cycle is offered by the PCT and not subsequent frozen embryo transfers.

Read an article on how some NHS trusts are still failing to follow Government guidance on IVF treatment