Health board cuts IVF access on the NHS in Kent

The NHS has reduced the number of IVF treatment cycles available to patients in Kent, it has emerged.

Council documents show NHS Kent and Medway has lowered the age at which women are no longer eligible for treatment from 40 to 38 and has reduced the number of rounds of treatment from two to one.

Under the policy, which came into effect on 1 April, the number of embryo transfers has also been changed from four to two, according to the papers.

NHS Kent and Medway said it had implemented the changes "so that services remain clinically effective, fair and sustainable for the future".

The report, which goes before a Kent County Council committee on Wednesday, said the change focused resources "on patients most likely to benefit".

This would maximise "outcomes, value for money and the sustainability of fertility services in Kent and Medway", according to health officials.

Kent councillor Stuart Jeffery, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the policy shift had "slipped under the radar"

The former NHS executive, who sits on the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, said: "The reduction in IVF cycles will be devastating for many and the NHS hasn't even conducted much of a consultation."

Rob Wills, 39, and his wife Nicola, 35, recently celebrated the birth of their baby after spending two years receiving NHS IVF treatment.

He said: "What nobody knows is that the NHS process takes so long and that you have to spend the time finding the right IVF solution.

"If we were starting that journey now, it just wouldn't happen.

"The NHS's decision to make these cuts will simply hit the poorest in society and who most desperately want to have children because, for so many, the private options will be out of reach."

NHS Kent and Medway said in the report that the reduction in age eligibility was "aligned with the evidence-based clinical effectiveness of IVF treatment".

It added that reducing the available cycles was "consistent" with other regional authorities.

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance recommends offering three cycles to eligible patients under 40 and to consider up to three further full cycles.

NHS papers said the guidance was "not mandatory" and "local NHS commissioners decide what can be funded".

According to infertility charity Progress Educational Trust, only two of the 42 regional NHS boards in England comply with the guidelines.

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