Basildon & Brentwood cuts all NHS IVF

Essex IVF black spot as Basildon & Brentwood cuts all NHS IVF

Basildon & Brentwood clinical commissioning group (CCG) announced today it will no longer accept referrals for NHS fertility treatment, effective from 28 November. Patients who have already been referred for fertility treatment will receive one NHS-funded IVF cycle (rather than the current three offered); they can complete their current cycle if on a second or third cycle but any frozen embryo transfers will be limited to just one.
Susan Seenan, chief executive of leading patient charity Fertility Network UK and co-chair of campaign group Fertility Fairness said: ‘Basildon & Brentwood CCG’s decision to cut NHS IVF for new and existing patients is cruel and unethical. Essex is now officially the worse place to live in England if you hope to access NHS fertility services: in the last two years three local CCGs have decommissioned NHS fertility services – Basildon & Brentwood CCG, North East Essex CCG and Mid Essex CCG.’

‘The prospect of facing life without the children you long for is a devastating, shattering experience, as our recent major survey reveals: 90 per cent of people not able to have a child without medical help report feeling depressed; 42 per cent experience suicidal feelings. Over 50 per cent feel out of control, frustrated, helpless, fearful, worried and sad nearly all of the time.’ Basildon & Brentwood CCG decision  is disgraceful; the CCG is failing already vulnerable and distressed patients.’

Sarah Norcross, co- chair of Fertility Fairness, said: ‘It is appalling that only the well-off in Basildon & Brentwood will be able to access fertility treatment. Fertility services should be available for everyone eligible for treatment; not just the wealthy. Fertility problems affect rich and poor alike and this is a clear example of health inequality in practice. The Prime Minister has said that she wants a country that works for everyone – here we have a county, Essex, which is working against people with a medical condition.’
Fertility patient Lisa Strum, who had to pay privately for IVF, said: ‘I live in Brentwood and was considered to be too old for NHS funding. I understand how important it is to feel like you’ve tried. Not just tried a little – but tried EVERYTHING. Covered every option. The decision by Basildon & Brentwood CCG will prevent couples from having this option. They will always wonder “what if?” It will turn having a child into an elitist option for anyone struggling to conceive.’
‘Thanks to infertility, I live every day in a slight fog. I have become the consummate actress. I put on a “happy face” every day and attend functions when I’m required. I sob at department store Christmas adverts because they depict families – or happy children – or happy siblings – or a life I will not have by natural means. If we remove funding from the NHS for these treatments, what happens to those who cannot afford to self-fund? Will they have to feel like I do now, for every day, for the rest of their lives with no closure? Just because they did not have financial privilege? I am poorer for my IVF experience, but richer for having tried.’