Price caps could help end IVF postcode lottery | Letters

Denis Campbell reports that only 27% of IVF cycles in 2022 were funded by the NHS. This is a devastating example of the fertility situation in the UK and particularly worrying in light of our falling birth rates (Report, July 18).

Eleven years ago the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence was established recommended patients receive three full NHS-funded IVF cycles, but today only 7% of the UK’s Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) meet these guidelines. The IVF postcode lottery is unacceptable and goes against the founding principles of our NHS, which is to provide fair and equal access to healthcare.

However, there are practical solutions to restoring fertility provision in this country. The first is to tackle the IVF postcode lottery by introducing a national IVF tariff. There are price caps for other medical treatments and a tariff on the upper limit that ICBs pay for a single IVF cycle would go a long way towards helping the NHS budget and reducing the inequality of access in the UK.

The other critical component is reversing our declining birth rates, which is very important for an ageing society and an economic imperative. For that reason, we need to see cross-departmental collaboration between the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Women and Equalities Committee and the Treasury to address this policy gap and financial inequalities, and so secure the future fertility and financial health of the UK.
Geeta Nargund
Senior Consultant in Reproductive Medicine, St George’s HospitalLondon