A woman who miscarried her IVF pregnancy at 17 weeks was refused a further embryo transfer because of local Integrated Care Board (ICB) policy.
Beth and her husband's ICB claims to offer one cycle of IVF, and the couple had another frozen embryo in storage. A full cycle of IVF should include one round of ovarian stimulation and egg collection, and transfer of all resulting viable embryos. However, Beth's ICB only allows a partial cycle, limited to one embryo transfer.
'It was like we were battling a system that should be there to support us,' Beth told Grazia. 'We felt failed by the NHS. We lost trust.'
Only two ICBs in England now offer three full cycles of NHS-funded IVF to eligible patients, which is what the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Fertility Guideline recommends.
Read the full article in Grazia, and visit the PET NHS Fertility Funding Tracker to check the IVF policy for any ICB in England.