Fertility Preservation Treatment (National Health Service)

First Minister’s Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at on 27 June 2024.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Graham Simpson Graham Simpson Conservative

I have been contacted by a constituent with a 38-year-old niece in Lanarkshire who has breast cancer. Treating that will ultimately affect her fertility but, because she has passed her 38th birthday, national health service rules say that she must pay £5,000 for fertility preservation treatment. If she were an otherwise healthy woman, she could get in vitro fertilisation on the NHS into her 40s, and rightly so. I do not think that that is a very fair situation for anyone with breast cancer. Will the First Minister agree to look into that situation as a matter of urgency?

Photo of John Swinney John Swinney Scottish National Party

I recognise the sensitivity of the point that Mr Simpson puts to me, and I understand the concern about the different approach that is taken in different scenarios. I am happy for the relevant ministers—the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health—to engage directly with Mr Simpson on the question. We will explore what is possible. There might be clinical issues with which I am not familiar, but we will explore the matter to see whether there is a way to address Mr Simpson’s points.