Progress Educational Trust (PET)'s 2022 Annual Conference featured in a recent article in the Observer, about how fertility patients' chances of having a baby are being affected by long NHS waiting lists.
Comments made during the first session of the conference by Julia Chain, chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) were featured:
'We know that, post-pandemic, with NHS waiting lists growing ever longer, many patients who might require interventions before they can start [fertility] treatment might be hugely disadvantaged if they have a long wait,' she said (see BioNews 1171).
The older a patient is, the lower their chances of success with IVF, but also some may face age cut-offs for accessing funded treatment.
PET's director Sarah Norcross, was also quoted, saying: 'Fertility treatments may not be "urgent" in the official language of the health service but, as far as patients are concerned, such treatments are a matter of considerable urgency.'