IVF: West Midlands
(asked on 6th January 2023) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to improve access to NHS-funded IVF services for women in the West Midlands.
Answered by
Maria Caulfield
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Funding decisions for health services in England are made by integrated care boards and are based on the clinical needs of the local population. We expect these organisations to commission fertility services in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines, ensuring equal access to fertility treatment across England.
The Women’s Health Strategy, published on 20 July 2022, contained a number of important changes and future ambitions to improve the variations in access to NHS-funded fertility services. We will update shortly on our priorities for implementation.
In addition, NICE is currently reviewing its fertility guidelines and will consider whether the current recommendations for access to National Health Service funded treatment and preservation are still appropriate. We expect that this review will be published in 2024.