Infertile women forced to wait until they are 39 before being offered state funded IVF

A new regulation has been launched by the NHS North Yorkshire and York primary care trust (PCT) which prevents women who are trying to conceive from being eligible for state funded IVF until they are between the ages of 39 and a half and 40.

As a result of the policy, only 16 women, mainly between the ages of 39 and a half and 40, underwent IVF treatment in the region of North Yorkshire last year, according to the PCT.

Guidelines which were published by the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) five years ago recommend that primary care trusts should aim to offer three cycles of IVF treatments to all couples who are experiencing difficulties conceiving for women aged between 23 and 39 who are not obese and do not smoke. Nevertheless, following these guidelines is not compulsory, and PCTs are allowed to impose their own selection criteria for infertility treatment, which often vary from one region to another.

These guidelines have been criticised by certain groups who argue that money would be better spent treating terminal illnesses rather than treating infertility, although they have also been welcomed by thousands of infertile couples.

It is believed that PCTs currently award fewer IVF treatments than recommended by the NICE guidelines, and of about 32,000 IVF cycles performed in the past year, three quarters were done through private fertility clinics, with a typical success rate of just 25%.
Medical evidence shows that fertility treatment at an earlier age usually leads to a higher success rate, and that a woman’s chances of getting pregnant may fall by as much as 50% between the ages of 35 and 40.

One caveat which was mentioned by the PCT from North Yorkshire and York was that younger women could be eligible for state funded IVF if their conditions were deemed “exceptional”, a term which is yet to be defined by health service managers. It has been reported by some couples, however, that “exceptional” circumstances under which women below the age of 39 would qualify for IVF treatment include cases in which one of the partners is terminally ill.

The introduction of such a restrictive policy is believed to be an attempt to cut spending and solve the organisation’s financial problems by discouraging couples from seeking help for infertility treatment.