Women eligible for publicly funded IVF treatment in the north will be entitled to one full cycle under new changes announced by Stormont’s health minister.
The changes mean women who do not achieve a live birth with either fresh or first frozen embryo transfers, and still have frozen embryos, will be entitled to further treatment until either she has a live birth or has transferred all frozen embryos.
The change falls short of the planned three IVF cycles for women announced in the 2020 New Decade, New Approach (NDNA) deal to revive Stormont.
Under the current system, eligible women are entitled to receive one fresh and one frozen embryo transfer, even if they achieve a live birth with the first transfer.
A woman is eligible for the new changes if she meets the published access criteria for IVF and was placed on the waiting list for publicly funded IVF/ICSI treatment on or after October 1 2022.
Health minister Robin Swann said there were “several challenges” to be overcome before the NDNA IVF targets could be met, adding: “Further expansion will require recurrent funding assurances which, unfortunately, it has not been possible to provide to date in light of the well documented financial pressures facing the entire health service at this time.”
