Free IVF!!!!!

[Debie121]

Hi <br>has anyone seen the news today somthing about ivf becoming free does anyone have any info about as I have missed the news each time Thanks.

[Helen GB]

Hi Debbie<br><br>I saw the news too and as I was going for my follow up consultation yesterday after first IVF failed, I asked the Dr about it. Basically, NICE have recommended to the government that all health authorities should offer the SAME level of treatment, instead of it varying enormously depending on where you live. The treatment would be offered to all over 23 yr olds and under 40s on the NHS. Each woman would get 3 "fresh" funded attempts at IVF and also if spare embryos were stored, 3 attempts with them. <br><br>However, there are 2 problems. One is that if the Govt accepts this recommendation (and they may well not), where will they get the huge additional funding required, not just to cover the treatment but also to train all the additional medical staff that would be required to support this treatment. The 2nd is that the staff will take years to train and in the meantime the already long waiting list for IVF on NHS will just get even longer, so those "joining" the queue now will be looking at a wait of 5 years plus instaed of the current 2 (average).....so for those of us like me who are already over 35, there is not much hope of getting this free treatment before our ages exclude us anyway. My Dr thinks that if this goes ahead there will be a flood of couples rushing to their GPs just to get on the list and if the NHS is then forced to use private clinics to keep up with demand, that could slow down the treatment for everyone going private anyway so it may actually have an adverse effect!!<br><br>We won't know until February if the Govt is going to go with this.<br><br>Hope this helps<br>Helen