National Infertility Awareness Campaign

NIAC is committed to raising awareness of the need for full implementation of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence’s (NICE) guideline on infertility.

Background

NIAC is an umbrella body formed in 1993 as a development of National Fertility Week.

It was established with support, which it continues to enjoy, from a wide range of organisations involved in the field of infertility, including infertility charities, patient support groups, healthcare professionals and the pharmaceutical industry.
NIAC campaigns for equal access for those with an established clinical need to a full range of services for the investigation and treatment of infertility on the NHS.

Around one in seven couples seek specialist treatment for fertility problems, and infertility can have a profoundly distressing and devastating impact.  However, excellent results can be achieved in treating infertility if patients are rapidly investigated and referred for appropriate treatment.

NIAC is funded through grants from Ferring Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Merck Serono Pharmaceuticals and Pharmasure Ltd.  Its activities are directed by the NIAC Committee, with strategic advice and administrative assistance from Decideum Ltd.  Non-commercial interests enjoy a significant majority on the NIAC Committee.
 
NICE Fertility Guideline

Patients have traditionally faced considerable inequality of access to treatment on the NHS, resulting in many having to resort to privately funded treatment.

NIAC therefore welcomed the publication in February 2004 of a clinical guideline by NICE, which had been referred by the Government with the aim of helping to ensure fairer access to treatment. Amongst other recommendations covering a full range of infertility treatments, the guideline stated that up to three full cycles of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) should be made available on the NHS to those meeting its clinical criteria.

On its publication, the then Secretary of State, Rt. Hon Dr. John Reid MP, asked Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) to make available at least one full cycle of IVF to eligible patients by April 2005, and make progress towards full implementation of the guideline in the longer term.
However, there continue to be wide variations in the number of cycles funded and in what constitutes a ‘full’ cycle, as well as in waiting times for treatment and eligibility criteria applied to patients seeking it.

The definition of a full cycle of IVF, as set out in a letter to the NHS in July 2007 by the then Public Health Minister, Rt. Hon Dawn Primarolo MP is a fresh cycle plus the transfer of frozen embryos where this is possible.

Single Embryo Transfer

The recent move towards single embryo transfer (SET) has now made full implementation of the NICE guideline even more important, both in terms of funding three full cycles of IVF, and in ensuring that a full cycle includes the transfer of both fresh and frozen embryos.
SET has been introduced as a means of reducing the number of multiple births from IVF, which represent a significant risk to the health and welfare of both mother and child.

In October 2006, an independent expert group set up by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to look at reducing the number of multiple births from IVF recommended the introduction of SET for appropriate patients.

However, the group also concluded that failure to implement fully the NICE guideline was the single greatest obstacle to its introduction in the UK.

Review of NICE Guideline

The NICE fertility guideline is currently under review. An updated guideline is due to be published in 2011.

NIAC is engaging in the review and will work to raise awareness of the need for implementation of the updated guideline to ensure that patients have access to a full range of services for the investigation and treatment of infertility on the NHS.

Contact NIAC by post at: NIAC, Charter House, 43 St Leonards Road, Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex, TN40 1JA or by email 

For patient information please call Infertility Network UK 0800 008 7464 or email   

NIAC IS SUPPORTED BY: AceBabes • Association of Clinical Embryologists • British Association for Adoption & Fostering • British Andrology Society • British Fertility Society • British Infertility Counselling Association • COTS (Childlessness overcome through surrogacy) • DC Network • Endometriosis UK • Family Planning Association • Ferring Pharmaceuticals Ltd • Infertility Network UK • Merck Serono Pharmaceuticals Ltd • Pharmasure Ltd • Relate • Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists • Society for Reproduction and Fertility • Stillbirths & Neonatal Death Society • The Daisy Network • The Miscarriage Association • WellBeing of Women

INTERNATIONAL: ACCESS (Australia) • ESHRE • Infertility Awareness Association of Canada (IAAC) – National & Toronto Chapter • RESOLVE, USA