8 Healthcare Innovations Innovative healthcare & alternative remedies Trying to conceive
With IVF availability and egg-freezing varying from region to region, and contrasting advice on the issue from experts, what’s the best course of action? Words: Rhonda Carrier
question marks over how successful the use of frozen eggs actually is, along with new data highlighting the ‘postcode lottery’ affecting access to IVF treatment after a certain age have come about due to an erosion of IVF’s availability on the NHS over the past decade.
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The effectiveness of egg freezing Controversy currently surrounds the practice of egg freezing after comments, in February this year, by fertility expert Lord Robert Winston of Imperial College London describing it as ‘a very unsuccessful technology’ in which the number of eggs that result in a live birth is only about 1%. Tis claim was challenged by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the body regulating fertility treatment in the UK, which claims the success rate is closer to 20%. So who is right? It may be neither,
it may be both. Te issue is that Lord Winston and HFEA looked at different stages of fertility treatment when measuring the success rate: Lord Winston’s figure refers to the proportion of all frozen eggs that are thawed and result in a live birth, while the HFEA figure is based on the number of embryos (thawed eggs that are successfully fertilised) that result in a live birth. Te numbers are confusing for
PHOTOGRAPH: GETTY
those trying to assess how likely they are to get pregnant from a round of IVF. On average, there are some women who have all the eggs they thawed survive, and some women who have none survive. Te
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hose looking to get pregnant have new developments in fertility treatment to take into consideration. Recent
statistics also don’t take into account individual circumstances, such as your overall health or lack of it (about 20% of NHS-funded egg-freezing cycles are for women who are already unwell and thus less likely to conceive). Healthy women under 35 have a higher chance of success.
Access to IVF Tis brings us to another controversy — that of how accessible IVF currently is, or isn’t, on the NHS. Recent data has revealed that one in nine clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England (which number 20 in total) are refusing IVF treatment to women under 40 or even under 35. And each only offers women one round of IVF. Tere are also five CCGs that
don’t offer IVF at all. Tis is despite recommendations by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) that women should be eligible up to the age of 42 and that all women under 40 should be offered three cycles. Dubbed the ‘postcard lottery’, these
rules mean some women’s windows to access treatment are up to seven years smaller than those living in other areas and has resulted in a spike in the number of those turning to private treatment — often taking out a loan to fund it. Te cost of a single cycle can be up to £6,000, leaving it an option only for the wealthy in society. While the age of new mums
continues to increase in England and Wales, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), likely due to the continued development of women’s education and career prospects, the changes will feel like a step backwards for many.
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