Patient Day of Action

Email, post and tweet #IVFx3  #tellyourMP #Therighttotry

On Saturday 25 March 2017, Fertility Network UK is asking everyone affected by the unfair rationing of NHS fertility services to take action. There are three ways you can help:

1. tell your MP: inform them of your situation and what is happening in your area; a template letter is below and MP’s contacts details are available at https://www.theyworkforyou.com/
2. tweet your support and a pic using the hashtags #IVFx3  #tellyourMP #righttotry
3. help us create a fertility funding Thunderclap – a social media message sent collectively – on Facebook, Twitter and tumblr on Saturday 25 March at 3pm. Register your support for the Thunderclap at https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/52716-the-right-to-try-campaign

Fertility guidelines from the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) state that if you are unable to have children without medical help, you should be able to access 3 full cycles of NHS IVF treatment (if clinically eligible). An overwhelming 98 per cent of England’s 209 local clinical commissioning groups (CCGS) do not follow this guidance fully and have either cut the number of IVF cycles they offer from 3 to 2, 1 or zero, and/or ration services by introducing additional non-medical access criteria, such as denying IVF to individuals if their partner has a child from a previous relationship.

Is NHS fertility treatment affected in your area?

The only areas in England that do follow national guidance fully are Bury CCG, Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale CCG, Tameside and Glossop CCG, and Oldham CCGs. If you live anywhere else then your NHS fertility services are being cut or rationed unfairly.

What can I do?

Join us in our patient day of action on 25 March 2017:

1. tell your MP: inform them of how you are affected by the unfair rationing of NHS fertility services. Ask your MP what they are doing to end the IVF postcode lottery. Ask them to highlight this issue in Parliament: to ask why CCGs are being allowed to ignore national guidance, cut funding and introduce unfair non-medical access criteria.

Here is a suggested template for your letter:

I would like to know why it is acceptable for the vast majority of England’s clinical commissioning groups to disregard national public health guidance from the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), and what action is being taken to increase compliance with NICE’s national guidance?

The most recent data from campaign group Fertility Fairness shows that 98 per cent of England’s 209 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) ignore NICE’s fertility guidelines and instead ration treatment by postcode or the introduction of arbitrary non-medical criteria. Just four CCGs follow national guidance on access to NHS fertility treatment fully and offer access to three funded cycles of IVF for eligible women under 40, plus all viable frozen embryo transfers, and enable access if one partner has a child from a previous relationship.

I am affected in the following way … [Personal statements help enormously: if you are happy to, please provide personal details here of your situation and how this affects you physically, emotionally, socially and financially.]

Please can you help me change my future to one of hope? Please raise questions in Parliament about why the accepted medical intervention for the treatment of fertility problems is routinely rationed in this way. Please bring this issue to the attention of your colleagues and policy makers in the Department of Health.

I hope that you will take the necessary steps to investigate this appalling inequity in healthcare provision and to protect my local NHS fertility services and those across England and the rest of the UK.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my concerns and I look forward to receiving your reply.

Contact details for your MP are available here https://www.theyworkforyou.com/

For more info on writing to your MP and our campaign for equitable treatment please visit our website http://fnuk.wpengine.com/for-those-trying-to-become-parents/nhs-funding/campaign-for-equitable-treatment/

2.Tweet your support and your pic using the hashtags   #IVFx3  #TellyourMP #Therighttotry

3.Help us create a Thunderclap on Facebook and Twitter on Saturday 25 March. Register for the Thunderclap at https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/52716-the-right-to-try-campaign