Free IVF can be a "postcode lottery"

The government body that recommends which drugs and treatments should be available on the health service is considering extending free IVF treatment to all infertile women under 40.

However the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE), stressed its IVF report was only at first draft stage and was open to consultation.

NICE said it was an attempt to set national standards for fertility treatment to end the existing "postcode lottery" for women.

According to the draft guidance, three attempts with fresh embryos and three with frozen ones offer the best chance of pregnancy.

What we want to make sure is that there are some clear national standards as to what care people who are using the NHS can expect Ann-Toni Rogers NICE spokeswoman Q&A: IVF on the NHS

If a woman went through all six it should take two years.

The draft report was sent out for consultation last month and the new IVF guidelines are expected to be published next year.

One in six couples have fertility problems in Britain and there are 27,000 IVF attempts in the country every year. Four out of five of these are done at private clinics.

If they were done on the NHS the cost would be an estimated �400m and questions have already been raised about where the funding would come from.

Patchy provision

Shadow health secretary Dr Liam Fox said: "This is a classic example of where NICE makes decisions about which treatments ought to be available yet has no responsibility or power to make the necessary resources available.

"The net result of this haphazard system is that less discretion is available at hospital level, with more decisions made by the central bureaucracy."

There are many things that should take priority and the 'right' to a child is not one of them Paul Owen, UK Click here to have your say

Britain is currently bottom of the league table in Europe for offering IVF treatment.

In the UK in 2000 there were 585 cycles of IVF carried out per one million inhabitants.

This compared with Netherlands and France where there were more than 960 cycles of IVF per million, according to figures released in July at the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology annual meeting in Spain.

Under the NICE's recommendations couples will not have to be married to qualify but must be in a "stable relationship", according to the Daily Mail newspaper.

They must have tried to conceive for at least a year and had tests which have revealed the cause of the infertility.

The guidance does not say if couples who have children from previous relationships will qualify.

Public comments

NICE is not imposing an age limit but is telling hospitals that treating only women under 40 will be most effective and offer better value for money.

A spokeswoman said the ultimate decision on funding will be made by the Department of Health for England and the Welsh Assembly for Wales.

IVF IN THE UK One in six UK couples have fertility problems 27,000 IVF attempts every year Four out of five IVF attempts currently done at private clinics If they were done on the NHS the cost would be an estimated �400m

At present, IVF is patchy with some centres offering the service on the NHS and others not.

"What we want to make sure is that there are some clear national standards as to what care people who are using the NHS can expect," Ann-Toni Rogers told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

A second draft will be published on 26 August and will be available on NICE's website for comments.

Last month a survey found about 70% of those questioned believed IVF should be made freely available on the NHS.

Almost 90% felt couples should have equal access to fertility treatment wherever they lived in the UK.