IVF donor sperm crisis revealed as NHS fails couples
Almost 70% of fertility clinics either have no access to donor sperm, or find it extremely difficult to obtain, a BBC survey suggests. Two thirds of IVF clinics have trouble getting the sperm they need. Specialists say infertile patients are becoming desperate and more resources are needed for campaigns aimed at recruiting donors.
Fifty of the clinics surveyed said they either had no sperm or insufficient supplies. Many reported waiting times of at least six months for couples needing donor sperm, and some were having to turn patients away.
The secretary of the British Fertility Society, Dr Allan Pacey, said: "We are certainly in a crisis at the moment - most clinics are finding it difficult to get enough sperm to treat their patients.
"And in the few cases that patients are receiving treatment, they're not necessarily getting the choice they once had and are having to accept treatment with the only donor that's available. This is a consequence of the law change and the manner in which it was implemented."
"We made the point that centres needed help and some resources in order to receive donors following the law change - but sadly they've been left to their own devices, and now we have a tremendous crisis on our hands."
And the BBC survey shows that doctors who are still recruiting have been using some imaginative methods - such as targeting workers in the emergency services.
Charities representing donor-conceived people say the change in the law has been a vital measure to bring openness into the lives of adults who were created in this way.
They fought hard to get these rights which, they say, simply put donor-conceived people on a par with those who were adopted and feel a need to contact their biological parents.
Olivia Montuschi, of the Donor Conception Network, said it was more complex than simply saying removing anonymity had led to the shortage of donors, and was also influenced by a change in the type of men thought to be suitable to be donors.
"It is also because many clinics, opposed to the ending of anonymity and unable to believe that the government would actually do it, panicked donors by saying that the law could possibly be retrospective or that donor conceived people would make huge demands on them.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5341982.stm
On April 28, 2005 Health Direct noted that the NHS IVF fertility system is in chaos- when plans to reform fertility treatment available on the NHS have resulted in a chaotic system with vast differences in the level of treatment on offer.
Health Secretary John Reid set a deadline of 1 April last year for all eligible women to get one free cycle of IVF treatment. But analysis of the system by a Parliamentary group and fertility watchdogs found:
# Women in some areas have to wait up to two years for treatment.
# Some areas which previously offered several cycles of IVF are reducing their provision to one.
# Wide discrepancies between the criteria to qualify for treatment.
The shake-up was seen as a step towards implementing guidelines issued by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence recommending that women should eventually receive three free cycles to give them the best chance of conceiving.
In London some areas were providing up to three free treatments while in other places women were not entitled to any. Now most Primary Care Trusts, which pay for treatment for patients, are promising to provide one free treatment while others are continuing to offer more.
But critics say the guidelines are in danger of becoming irrelevant because of the long waiting times in some areas. Some women are in danger of waiting so long that they will breach the upper age limit of 39 by the time they reach the front of the queue.
Fifty of the clinics surveyed said they either had no sperm or insufficient supplies. Many reported waiting times of at least six months for couples needing donor sperm, and some were having to turn patients away.
The secretary of the British Fertility Society, Dr Allan Pacey, said: "We are certainly in a crisis at the moment - most clinics are finding it difficult to get enough sperm to treat their patients.
"And in the few cases that patients are receiving treatment, they're not necessarily getting the choice they once had and are having to accept treatment with the only donor that's available. This is a consequence of the law change and the manner in which it was implemented."
"We made the point that centres needed help and some resources in order to receive donors following the law change - but sadly they've been left to their own devices, and now we have a tremendous crisis on our hands."
And the BBC survey shows that doctors who are still recruiting have been using some imaginative methods - such as targeting workers in the emergency services.
Charities representing donor-conceived people say the change in the law has been a vital measure to bring openness into the lives of adults who were created in this way.
They fought hard to get these rights which, they say, simply put donor-conceived people on a par with those who were adopted and feel a need to contact their biological parents.
Olivia Montuschi, of the Donor Conception Network, said it was more complex than simply saying removing anonymity had led to the shortage of donors, and was also influenced by a change in the type of men thought to be suitable to be donors.
"It is also because many clinics, opposed to the ending of anonymity and unable to believe that the government would actually do it, panicked donors by saying that the law could possibly be retrospective or that donor conceived people would make huge demands on them.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5341982.stm
On April 28, 2005 Health Direct noted that the NHS IVF fertility system is in chaos- when plans to reform fertility treatment available on the NHS have resulted in a chaotic system with vast differences in the level of treatment on offer.
Health Secretary John Reid set a deadline of 1 April last year for all eligible women to get one free cycle of IVF treatment. But analysis of the system by a Parliamentary group and fertility watchdogs found:
# Women in some areas have to wait up to two years for treatment.
# Some areas which previously offered several cycles of IVF are reducing their provision to one.
# Wide discrepancies between the criteria to qualify for treatment.
The shake-up was seen as a step towards implementing guidelines issued by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence recommending that women should eventually receive three free cycles to give them the best chance of conceiving.
In London some areas were providing up to three free treatments while in other places women were not entitled to any. Now most Primary Care Trusts, which pay for treatment for patients, are promising to provide one free treatment while others are continuing to offer more.
But critics say the guidelines are in danger of becoming irrelevant because of the long waiting times in some areas. Some women are in danger of waiting so long that they will breach the upper age limit of 39 by the time they reach the front of the queue.
posted by Drs Search at
10:17 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home