Fertility treatment will be extended to single women on the NHS in Bristol while transgender people are also included for the first time – but the upper age limit is coming down to pay for it. At present only straight or gay couples are eligible for the service, which “discriminates” against some groups by excluding them unfairly, a health authority meeting was told.
Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) Integrated Care Board (ICB) approved a new fertility policy on Thursday, December 1, after hearing the existing one was open to legal challenge under the Equality Act. It includes lowering the maximum age for prospective mothers from 40 to 39.
People undergoing cancer treatment can currently have their eggs or sperm frozen but others whose NHS treatment will have an adverse or irreversible impact on their ability to conceive will now be included, including patients having surgery on a second ovary or testes and transgender people on the transition pathway. Other changes include reducing the number of independently funded cycles of intrauterine insemination (IUI) – a fertility treatment where sperm is inserted directly into the womb – to demonstrate infertility from 10 to six to ease the financial burden on those being treated.
