In Vitro Fertilisation

Department of Health written question – answered at on 12 October 2017.

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Photo of Steve McCabe Steve McCabe Labour, Birmingham, Selly Oak

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to reduce the number of clinical commissioning groups that have entirely decommissioned IVF services.

Photo of Steve McCabe Steve McCabe Labour, Birmingham, Selly Oak

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to ensure that patients in England have equal access to comprehensive NHS IVF services.

Photo of Philip Dunne Philip Dunne The Minister of State, Department of Health

It is the Government's policy that all clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) should have regard to the National Institute for Heath and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline on the assessment and treatment of people with fertility problems when commissioning fertility services for which they are responsible. This includes the recommendation in the guideline that three cycles of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) be offered to qualifying couples where the woman is under the age of 40 and one cycle where the woman is between the ages of 40 and 42. The then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Nicola Blackwood) wrote to the Medical Director of NHS England on 25 May 2017 asking that NHS England re-emphasise to all involved in commissioning fertility services that they should have regard to the NICE guideline as it currently stands.

The availability of National Health Service funded fertility treatment is a matter for local determination. Decisions on the level of service provision are underpinned by clinical insight and knowledge of local healthcare needs and priorities. However, NHS England and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), together with professional and stakeholder groups, are working together to see how IVF commissioning could be improved. One element of this is the ongoing work to develop a benchmark price that the NHS pays for infertility treatments. Commissioning guidance, which aims to improve the quality of commissioning and further encourage the implementation of the NICE fertility guideline, is being produced and will be disseminated by NHS England to all CCGs in England.

The Department will continue to support the programme of work being taken forward by NHS England, HFEA and stakeholders.

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