should IVF be available for free on the NHS ?

[plums77]

there is no way of knowing how much it will cost in total - there are allot of additional costs involved depending on how your body responds to fertility drugs etc. I couldnt afford an additional £110 a month anyway.

[Bifta]

Originally Posted by plums77

there is no way of knowing how much it will cost in total - there are allot of additional costs involved depending on how your body responds to fertility drugs etc. I couldnt afford an additional £110 a month anyway.

Would you not be spending more than that on a baby?

[plums77]

of course but if i if IVF was availible through NHS People like me could put the thousands of pounds towards bringing thire children up

[Jules]

I thought you could have it on the nhs but it was resticted to one or two trys? Maybe it is only in certain parts of the country or maybe it has been stopped now

[Bifta]

Sorry, but I still (and always will) think it's a completely unneccesary expense to expect the tax payer/NHS to fork out for, bring back the chiropody and podiatry for OAP's (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2549395.stm) instead of handing out funds to add to an already overpopulated society.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by whyme38

I thought you could have it on the nhs but it was resticted to one or two trys? Maybe it is only in certain parts of the country or maybe it has been stopped now

Or maybe the situation has changed. Kronas started this thread nearly two years ago.

[Jules]

I never noticed

[Bex]

Originally Posted by whyme38

I never noticed

whyme my reaction was also the same.... i thought that you got at least one attempt.... and i thought you could appeal through your local MP as well.

plums as has been said to the forum. I wouldn't say that I understand your feelings, because i've not been there, but i could empathise with you. If it was me, and i couldn't get IVF on the NHS and was, as desprate as you obviously are to have a child, I would try everything in my power to get the money together. I think i would probably do as bifta has suggested and take out bank loans etc to have the opportunity. I'd work heaps of overtime and save up for it as well. In short, i would do anything i possible could to get the money together.

However, I can also see Bifta's point of view. I think that a lot of areas of the NHS need better funding, in fact i was watching a programme the other day that was discussing the lack of funding in maternity wards, which has meant that some hospitals have had to turn people away, and turn babies away, who are ill. In my opinion, treating sick children is more important than funding for people to bring more children into the world, who won't necessarily have places that they could be treated, if they happened to get ill.

If all my attempts to have a child of my own did fail, then i would probably turn down the route of adoption. Yes, you may feel you lose out because you don't get the experience of pregnancy and birth, but i think that you can love a child no matter where they have come from.

something, which one might also consider, is that we are darn lucky to even have an NHS service. If we were somewhere like the states, we would have to pay for ALL treatment that we had.

plums as i've said i am not trying to demean what you feel, or undermine it in anyway but the above is how i feel about the issue.

[Angua]

The problem has more to do with inequality of access to IVF as the lady from Buckinghamshire pointed out. Unfortunately this applies to most areas of the NHS which with the best will in the world can never be funded properly. Everything depends on where you live as to what treatment you get and how fast.

Perhaps a limited number of attempts at IVF could be offered at a subsidised rate throughout the country but only after all other methods have been exhausted. As for those who say we have enough children, unfortunately the opposite is true. There will be more over 60's than under 20's in a short space of time (probably why they are trying to increase the working age to 70).

BTW I smoked for 30 years and I am sure in that time I have paid enough duty to pay for any illness I may cause myself as a result, and certainly less than any sport related injury would cost.

[plums77]

Originally Posted by whyme38

I thought you could have it on the nhs but it was resticted to one or two trys? Maybe it is only in certain parts of the country or maybe it has been stopped now

They announced that in Feb 2005 that 1-2 cycles of IVF would be availible through the NHS to infertile couples throughout the country. I have visited the Doctors regurly for updates and it is still not in place. I think in other counties eg Oxfordshire & Hertfordshire this has now been put in place, but as it stands this does not apply in Buckinghamshire.
__________________

Originally Posted by Bex

whyme my reaction was also the same.... i thought that you got at least one attempt.... and i thought you could appeal through your local MP as well.

plums as has been said to the forum. I wouldn't say that I understand your feelings, because i've not been there, but i could empathise with you. If it was me, and i couldn't get IVF on the NHS and was, as desprate as you obviously are to have a child, I would try everything in my power to get the money together. I think i would probably do as bifta has suggested and take out bank loans etc to have the opportunity. I'd work heaps of overtime and save up for it as well. In short, i would do anything i possible could to get the money together.

However, I can also see Bifta's point of view. I think that a lot of areas of the NHS need better funding, in fact i was watching a programme the other day that was discussing the lack of funding in maternity wards, which has meant that some hospitals have had to turn people away, and turn babies away, who are ill. In my opinion, treating sick children is more important than funding for people to bring more children into the world, who won't necessarily have places that they could be treated, if they happened to get ill.

If all my attempts to have a child of my own did fail, then i would probably turn down the route of adoption. Yes, you may feel you lose out because you don't get the experience of pregnancy and birth, but i think that you can love a child no matter where they have come from.

something, which one might also consider, is that we are darn lucky to even have an NHS service. If we were somewhere like the states, we would have to pay for ALL treatment that we had.

plums as i've said i am not trying to demean what you feel, or undermine it in anyway but the above is how i feel about the issue.

Thank you for your welcome