A time for change and a time for equality — Infertility services and the NHS

Abstract

The provision of infertility services has always provoked controversy. On the one hand, patients' groups and clinicians involved with infertile couples have long campaigned against the ‘postcode lottery’. On the other hand, commissioners have been reluctant to commit resources to what they see as a low priority in health care. The issue has been brought back into the news with the government's decision to ask the National Institute of Clinical Excellence to review the inequalities in provision of fertility services. This article sets out the evidence for viewing infertility as an illness that deserves public funding, and argues that assisted conception should be viewed in the same light as other chronic non-life-threatening conditions that are currently funded by the NHS.