A leading British fertility expert is calling for IVF clinics to foot the bill when assisted reproductive treatments result in their patients requiring care in NHS hospitals.
Geeta Nargund said the public sector should not have to shoulder the financial burden of treating women who are hospitalised with severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) or other complications because clinics have used excessive drugs or outdated protocols.
She said by making the clinics pay, hundreds of thousands of pounds could be recouped and used to fund more IVF cycles on the NHS for couples struggling to conceive.
“The time has come when we need to take some radical actions in order to reduce the risks faced by women undergoing IVF and protect our ever-shrinking NHS resources,” Nargund said.
It should be mandatory for all IVF clinics to submit details of hospital admissions to the fertility watchdog, said Nargund, who is the medical director of Create Fertility, a UK-wide private clinic specialising in natural and mild IVF treatments.
“Clinics’ success rates are usually measured in terms of live births per embryo transferred, but the health outcomes for women are of equal importance and there needs to be more transparency around that,” she said.
Article from The Guardian, 26 February 2018