Nick Reynolds and Joanne Barrett with their children, Heidi, left, and Kacey at their home in Nether Poppleton, York

A GLIMMER of hope has been offered to women desperate for help conceiving a child, as North Yorkshire health bosses have pledged to reconsider swingeing IVF funding cuts.

The Press has learned North Yorkshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) has decided to review its near-total suspension of IVF treatment for couples.

At the end of 2006, the debt-ridden PCT implemented urgent money-saving measures to balance its books. These included suspending IVF treatment - except in cases where the woman was aged 39 years and six months or older and egg collection could be achieved before she turned 40.

Prior to the cuts, women could join a waiting list of about 18-months for NHS treatment, before receiving one cycle of IVF. Many PCTs offer two, or even three, cycles of free treatment.

Since then the only alternative has been for couples to spend £3,500 per cycle on private treatment.

But in a letter to Selby MP John Grogan, PCT chief executive Dr Janet Soo-Chung has pledged to reconsider the funding cuts.

Dr Soo-Chung said: "I am able to confirm that the PCT is planning to make good the shortfall in those clinical areas which have been affected by the financial recovery plan, for example IVF services, and the PCT recognises that we need to move this position forward in 2000/09.

The plan is to address restrictions around the commissioning of IVF services within the financial year 2008/09.

Dr Janet Soo-Chung

"This plan will include consideration of those patients under the age of 39 years and six months who were already on the waiting list for IVF treatment prior to the introduction of the new policy."

The move has already been hailed by one York woman affected by the funding cuts. The 34-year-old, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, was first put on the North Yorkshire IVF waiting list in November 2005. She and her husband were close to the top of the waiting list when the cuts were made.

Since then the couple have had paid for two cycles of IVF themselves - but to no avail.

She said: "It's potentially really good news. I would be really happy.

"I think they absolutely ought to do it. If you're supposed to be entitled to a treatment, you should get that treatment.

"We have to go to hospital in Leeds for the treatment and it's only the York patients there who have to pay - Leeds patients still get funding. There are only six other PCTs in the country that have completely suspended it.

"I've been really lucky, I've been able to raise the money to pay for it so far, but it shouldn't be like that. The whole process is so emotional and stressful - struggling to find £3,500 each time makes it even worse."

A spokeswoman for the PCT said there were about 300 patients on the waiting list prior to the change in policy.

She said: "The outcome of this review will determine which patients from the previous list will be fast-tracked for treatment.

"The review will first make a decision on whether or not the PCT is able to routinely commission the service.

"It is likely that those people who remained on the existing waiting list would take priority if IVF was to be routinely commissioned."

Mr Grogan hailed the decision, saying: "I am encouraged to hear the PCT intends to improve its funding policy on IVF before next April.

"I urge the PCT to bring their funding policy in respect of IVF services in line with other PCTs that do commission treatment on a routine basis."

Dr David Fair, of Jorvik Medical Practice, in York, welcomed the news, but noted a word of caution. "This is a glimmer of hope for people on the waiting list, but not more than that," he said.

"You have to feel desperately sorry for people who have been on the waiting list and have become too old for it to succeed in the past 16 months.

"And you feel for the injustice of people who have had to take out loans or have sold houses to fund private treatment."

'IVF has produced two miracle children'

"IT'S REALLY important for people who can't afford it to be given the chance."

After six years of trying to start a family, Joanne Barrett and her partner, Nick Reynolds, received the devastating news she had endometriosis - a condition that can stop eggs reaching the womb to be fertilised.

The Poppleton couple were told it would be impossible for them to conceive naturally. They were put on the 18-month NHS waiting list for IVF treatment.

Joanne, 39, and Nick, 42, had been planning to get married, but decided to use the money they had saved to pay for privately-funded treatment in the meantime, as they were aware Joanne's fertility would drop with age.

They went through two cycles of treatment with no success, before receiving their NHS treatment in February 2005.

"Nick made the call to the hospital," Joanne said. "We were driving and he'd pulled over in the countryside. "We were outside a beautiful farm - you just don't forget because it was perfect. All I heard him say was, Oh my God, you're joking,' and his eyes welled up. Kacey, now two-and-a-half, was born in November 2005. But their joy did not end with her birth. In January 2007, they discovered Joanne had become pregnant naturally. Doctors told them the process had cured Joanne's endometriosis. "That one cycle of IVF has produced two miracle children," Nick said. Daughter Heidi, now seven months, was born September 2007.

Fact file

IVF stands for In Vitro Fertilisation. It is a technique in which a woman's egg cells are fertilised by sperm outside of the womb. The process involves controlling the ovulation process using hormones and using the sperm to fertilise the egg in a dish containing fluid. The fertilised egg is then transferred to the woman's uterus. In Vitro is Latin for "In Glass".

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Should the PCT fund IVF treatment for couples?

10:59am Friday 11th April 2008

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