§ Dr. StarkeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of access to investigation for infertility in health authorities. [55141]
§ Ms JowellNo formal assessment has been made but we are aware of the annual surveys of the funding and provision of infertility services commissioned by the National Infertility Awareness Campaign. Like most National Health Service treatments, infertility treatment is funded through the general funding of health authorities, and decisions about the allocation of resources and about who should be eligible for treatment are the responsibility of individual authorities.
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) is shortly to issue the first two (of three) sets of clinical guidelines on the management of infertility. The guidelines will assist clinicians and health authorities in providing clinically effective infertility treatment. The Department will be issuing advice to the NHS to accompany the publication of the RCOG' s guidelines.