Society in funding call on IVF

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The fertility watchdog and key doctors have joined forces to launch a national strategy urging clinics to cut the number of multiple births.

Currently, 24% of IVF births involve twins or triplets but experts have been calling for this to be cut to 10% over a three-year period.

Multiple pregnancies are linked to health problems for both mother and babies, with around half of twins requiring specialist hospital care.

Dr Mark Hamilton, chairman of the British Fertility Society, pointed to "very patchy" funding for IVF across England.

He said it was "imperative that the funding issues around IVF" were addressed in collaboration with the launch of the new strategy. "The funding issue is very, very important," he added.

Many NHS trusts offer women just one cycle of IVF, leaving some patients wanting to have two embryos implanted at the same time in one cycle to maximise their chances of success.

Some doctors also argue that older women have a higher chance of success if they have several embryos transferred, without an associated high risk of a multiple birth.

In 2004, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recommended that women should get access to three cycles of IVF on the NHS. Former health secretary John Reid reduced this to one but the Government has since said NHS clinics should work towards implementing the guideline on three cycles in full.

Dr Hamilton said 60% of primary care trusts currently offer one cycle, 30% offer two cycles and just 5% offer three. He said it was "absolutely essential" that women were allowed to use any spare frozen embryos if their one cycle with a fresh embryo had failed.