Latest statistics on IVF funding

If you want to check whether you'll qualify for funded IVF treatment, the Department of Health has just published the latest detailed statistics on what the NHS provides and where.

It makes fascinating - if somewhat depressing - reading. Overall, the situation is getting a little better, and we are gradually working out way towards the three funded cycles suggested by the government's own advisory body. However, it's a slow process and in some areas access to treatment is restricted by some very strange rules.

The government's advisory body had suggested that treatment should be available for couples when the female partner was 39 or under, but in North Yorkshire and York, they've decided to fund treatment for women who are older instead. There, you only qualify for treatment in the six months between being 39.5 and 40 - despite that, they did manage to treat a total of 19 women who fell into that category in 2008! We know that treatment is less likely to be successful by the time a woman reaches 40, and it seems an odd decision not to offer help to younger women who have a greater chance of getting pregnant.

Some areas are still only funding fresh cycles, and not making any allowances for freezing spare embryos and transferring them later. This is going to make it very difficult for clinics who are being encouraged to promote single embryo transfer in younger women - if the NHS will pay for you to create the embryos but then refuses to pay for you to store them, you're more likely to ignore the risks that a multiple pregnancy could bring.

Overall, there's still a long way to go - but things are moving, albeit gradually. You can see the detailed breakdown of what is being offered where by checking out www.dh.gov.uk