Local MP, Dame Caroline Dinenage, today highlighted the issue of the shameful inequality in accessing fertility treatment for women in Hampshire compared to the rest of the country. In Health and Social Care Oral Parliamentary Questions, the Gosport MP asked the Secretary of State, Sajid Javid, to end the postcode lottery which disadvantages her constituents in IVF treatment.
There are 106 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in England, 6 of which limit the age of IVF treatment to 35 years of age, while the rest have capped the treatment at 40. Two of the six that limit the age to 35 are based in Hampshire - Portsmouth CCG and Hampshire, Southampton and Isle of Wight CCG.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) fertility guidelines make recommendations about who should have access to IVF treatment on the NHS in England and Wales. But individual NHS clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) make the final decision about who can have NHS-funded IVF in their local area, and their criteria may be stricter than those recommended by NICE.
Caroline said:
“Surely one of the cruellest health inequalities is in fertility treatment. Of the 106 CCG’s in England, only 6 limit the age of IVF treatment to 35 and two of those are in Hampshire.
“Will the Minister meet me to discuss ending this most devastating of postcode lotteries?”
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid, responded with:
“My Honourable Friend is absolutely right and I’d be very happy to meet with her and discuss this further. I can also tell her that this is one of the key things that we will be covering in our new upcoming Women’s Health Strategy.”
