COUPLES seeking fertility treatment face huge disparities in how long they have to wait for care. The most comprehensive guide yet reveals a “postcode lottery” of services, ranging from average waits of a fortnight for NHS patients wanting IVF in some areas to 156 weeks in others.

Now, hower, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority’s Guide to Infertility 2005 enables prospective parents to see how often treatments such as IVF work at individual clinics. The regu-latory body has previously only provided national figures, although some centres have published details.

Fertility campaigners described the biggest waits for treatment — which is dependent on sufficient funding from local health trusts — as long enough to seriously affect a woman’s chances of conceiving. The rate of IVF success drops by almost two thirds between the ages of 35 and 40.

Clare Brown, of the support group Infertility Network UK, said that some primary care trusts had to improve their commitment to fertility treatment dramatically. “It is vital that people get treated as quickly as possible to make it a costeffective and clinically effective treatment,” Ms Brown said. “In some areas it is going to be treatment by postcode. It all depends how much funding trusts have put in.”

She added that, while new guidance from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) — which recommends that all women between 23 and 39 should be offered three IVF cycles — was welcomed, it was possible that in some areas waiting lists would get even longer.

The authority’s guide, out yesterday, allows couples to compare the success rates and efficiency of clinics. The Reproductive Genetics Institute in West London offers NHS patients IVF treatment within three weeks, but the average wait at the Centre for Assisted Reproduction in Gateshead is 156 weeks.

The data shows that results also vary widely with some centres operating at more than twice the national average success rates. At the Assisted Reproduction & Gynaecology Centre in Central London, 59 per cent of patients under 35 give birth after undergoing IVF using fresh eggs, compared to 27.6 per cent across Britain.

Suzi Leather, the fertilisation authority’s chairman, said yesterday that one in seven people had difficulty conceiving and the guide would help them to make better-informed choices.

She added: “With treatment costing many thousands of pounds, it is right that the people paying for the treatment — the individual or the NHS — should get a proper sense of what they are paying for.”

The guide aims to cut through jargon and explain the most common causes of infertility and the different procedures available, Ms Leather said.

Success rates from all licensed centres are broken down by the woman’s age and the treatment received. There is also information on the percentage of treatments that have led to twins or triplets, and the waiting time for NHS patients.

Ms Leather said that the authority had stopped short of star ratings for clinics, or compiling league tables, because each case of infertility was different.

Copies of the guide will be sent to GPs and primary care trusts, but patients can visit http://www.hfea.gov.uk to find details of local clinics.

Andrew Lansley, the Tory health spokesman, welcomed the guide but said that it painted a depressing picture of the shortage of quick and effective care. “The Government has ignored guidelines from NICE to redress the restricted availability of IVF services,” he said.

A WAITING GAME

About 8,800 babies (or 1.5 per cent of births) are born every year by IVF

2005 clinic profiles are based on data from 85 HFEA-licensed clinics (52 see NHS patients)

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Donor organ allowed child’s own heart to heal
• Michael Jackson: Not the final chapter
• Brüno toned down for 15 rating