General Article UK’s IVF success rate has tripled in last 20 years

Topic Selected: Fertility and Reproduction Book Volume: 387
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Regulator says almost a third of transfers in under-35s result in a baby but NHS funding has fallen in England.

By Helen Pidd

IVF success rates have tripled over the last 20 years in the UK, with almost a third of all embryo transfers in women under 35 resulting in a baby, according to the fertility regulator.

But patients in parts of England are finding it increasingly difficult to access NHS funding for infertility treatment due to what one expert described as a ‘hugely disappointing’ fall in NHS-funded cycles. Though UK guidelines say women under 40 should be given three full IVF cycles, that only happens by default in Scotland, where 60% of treatments were NHS funded in 2018, statistics from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) show.

In England, where funding is decided by local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), there is a postcode lottery, with just some offering three cycles and others none. Many CCGs have reduced funding for fertility treatment, with th...

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