"IVF on NHS for women over 40" ran one front-page headline last week. A casual reader of that and similar articles could have been forgiven for concluding that the rule banning women aged 40 or over from accessing state-funded fertility treatment is being scrapped. It isn't, but it might be.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) has recently begun looking at whether its existing guideline on fertility needs to be updated. First issued in 2004, this medical world equivalent of a tablet of stone has always been tinged with controversy. Its main recommendation – that women aged 23 to 39 meeting set medical criteria should get up to three cycles of IVF on the NHS – is widely ignored by the local NHS organisations in England and Wales who are meant to approve it and foot the bill.
Others technically offer the three cycles, but cynically impose deeply unfair access criteria in order to limit those getting it, such as restricting it to only those aged 30-35 or banning any woman who is already a mother or any couple who have even one child between them, including from other relationships. Studies have shown that just 20% to 30% of England's 52 primary care trusts actually follow Nice's guidance. One cycle of IVF costs about £2,000, but many doctors believe it should not be an NHS service at all. Some see childless women as much less deserving than cancer patients seeking life-extending drugs. Others think they should foster or adopt a child to satisfy their desire to experience parenthood.
For more on this story follow the link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/04/fertility-baby-ivf-treatment
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