It is widely accepted in the medical community that, for a woman with normal fertility levels, chances of getting pregnant decline by as much as 50% between the ages of 35 and 40.
As a result of this policy, introduced in May 2007, only 16 women - the vast majority of whom were between the ages of 39.5 and 40 according to the PCT - from York and North Yorkshire were awarded IVF treatment last year. The PCT has mentioned, however, that it is possible for younger women to be treated if their circumstances are considered "exceptional", although health service managers refused to provide a definition for such a case. Some couples, however, have been told that such exceptional circumstances would include cases in which either partner was experiencing a life-threatening disease.
Despite clear evidence that the sooner fertility is treated, the better, women are being forced to wait until they are almost 40, when their chances of conception are considerably diminished, before they can undergo state funded IVF.
Five years ago, the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published guidelines with the aim of improving access to IVF treatment. The guidelines recommend that three IVF cycles should be offered to all couples who have been experiencing fertility problems for at least three years, as long as the woman is aged is between 23 and 39, is not obese and does not smoke. These guidelines were welcomed by thousands of infertile couples although there were also a number of detractors who advocated spending the money in other areas. However, the guidelines are not mandatory, and PCTs are allowed to set their own eligibility criteria, which usually vary from one region to another.
Three quarters of PCTs are believed to provide fewer cycles of IVF treatments than recommended by NICE, and of over 30,000 couples undergoing IVF treatment each year, about three quarters go to private IVF clinics where they pay thousands of pounds for fertility treatment, which typically has a failure rate of 75 per cent per cycle. Recent statistics show that 75 per cent of PCTS are operating at below the recommended figure for treatment numbers by NICE.
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