Would-be parents seeking IVF are still waiting years for treatment in some parts of Scotland, but just months in others.

Would-be parents seeking IVF are still waiting years for treatment in some parts of Scotland, but just months in others.

Successive Holyrood governments have committed to tackling the postcode lottery on IVF treatment, but a survey by The Herald shows its full extent, with waiting times varying from three months to three years in adjacent health board areas.

Waiting times for fertility treatment vary from three months in Borders to up to three years next door in Lothian - even though both sets of patients are treated at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

NHS Lanarkshire patients are waiting 13 months, while patients from Greater Glasgow and Clyde are waiting 22 months, even though both are treated in Glasgow.

The maximum age at which a patient will be treated also varies from board to board, in spite of Scottish Government guidance aimed at ending the disparities.

IVF is currently not included in waiting times targets, but, according to Scottish Government guidance, women should be able to access IVF until the age of 40. They should also be offered a minimum of three cycles of treatment.

In reality, the cut-off age for treatment is 40 in most places but 38 in Lothian, Fife, Forth Valley and Grampian. A spokeswoman for NHS Grampian said: "We are aware of the government guidelines, which are quite recent, and the age limit is under review."

There are also disparities over how many cycles of treatment are offered on the NHS. Most health boards offer three, but Greater Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Forth Valley, and Orkney offer just two.

Lothian and Fife, which offer three, and Forth Valley, which offers two, count the transfer to the uterus of fresh and frozen embryos from the same batch as separate cycles, unlike other health boards which regard them as one.

The existing guidance does say that transfer of frozen eggs counts as a separate cycle in its own right. A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "That is under consideration just now as part of the examination of various aspects of fertility services."

Susan Seenan, of Infertility Network Scotland, said: "For too long patients in Scotland have been faced with inequality both in waiting times and access criteria.

"Lengthy waiting lists in some areas mean patients are facing unacceptable delays in accessing treatment and we are still waiting for some health boards to raise the upper age limit for accessing treatment in line with government recommendations.

"We would like to see infertility treatment being included in waiting list targets in Scotland, as is now the case in England. Infertility has become the forgotten disease among the many excellent things which the SNP government is doing in Scotland and it is high time patients in Scotland received a fair and equitable service."

Last week, Public Health Minister Shona Robison said in a written parliamentary answer to Helen Eadie, Labour MSP for Dunfermline East, that the Government was looking at options on infertility services.

She said: "We are currently considering options for reducing waiting times in individual NHS board areas. We are aware that waiting times are long for this service and vary significantly between NHS boards, but the issues underlying these waiting times are complex and long-standing.

"Individual NHS boards have invested in this service to reduce waiting times in their area."

Ms Eadie said several constituents had come to her raising their concerns about IVF treatment: "Some of them have been trying for years but after having graduated, secured a career, and settled into their marriage or partnership, it then takes time to discover that they need assisted conception. Meantime their biological clocks are ticking.

"I would like every health board to be required to allow couples three fresh cycles for each couples. This would allow the couples to have frozen embryos from each fresh cycle."

'We were ruled by infertility'

CASE STUDY

"There should be a consistent approach to fertility treatment across Scotland. It's bad enough physically and medically, without working out that if you lived in Aberdeen, say, you'd be entitled to something better."

Caroline Wright's IVF attempts began in 2002. She had a private laparoscopy which revealed problems, including polycystic ovary syndrome, blocked Fallopian tubes and endometriosis. With a two-year waiting list in Forth Valley, Caroline and husband Stuart sought IVF treatment privately. She had two rounds of IVF, had a frozen embryo transferred and was on a waiting list for 13 months before a further round on the NHS. This time, she was successful, but sadly, daughter Amy was stillborn. One further round of IVF resulted in twins, Lisa and Emma, who are now three-and-a-half.

Mrs Wright, 39, from Alloa, said: "We were ruled by infertility for nearly six years. Everything is ruled by cycles and timings. They won't tell you where you are on the list, they'll only say that you're in the middle or near the end. So you find yourself thinking, I don't want to book that holiday next month in case my treatment comes up. It does rule your life. I think people who get pregnant very easily don't understand that.

"Watching the months tick by on the waiting list is another cause of anxiety. You're classed as old in your mid-30s. They say your eggs start to deteriorate after 30 or 35. My worry was I wouldn't have enough eggs or the quality would be poor. The mental state you're in, you don't want to wait. It was horrendous. The first failure, that was bad. The second, that was terrible, then the third one failed and you were thinking, this is a complete and utter disaster."

"Waiting times should be the same for each health board," Mrs Wright added, saying the same for the age cut-off. "Does it mean you have to move house to get treatment? You'd think it would be based on medical judgment, but if it was, there wouldn't be any differences."

League table of waiting times for IVF in Scotland

Ayrshire & Arran
Waiting time: 12 months
Cycles: Three
Age limit: 40 for treatment

Borders
Waiting time: Three months
Cycles: Three
Age limit: 40 for treatment

Dumfries and Galloway
Waiting time: 18 months
Cycles: Three
Age limit: 38 at time of referral, 40 for treatment

Fife
Waiting time: Around 24 months
Cycles: Three - frozen embryo transfer is counted as separate cycle
Age limit: 38 for treatment

Forth Valley
Waiting time: 18-24 months
Cycles: Two - frozen embryo transfer is counted as separate cycle
Age limit: 38 for treatment

Grampian
Waiting time: 12-18 months
Cycles: Three
Age limit: 38 for treatment

Greater Glasgow
Waiting time: 22 months
Cycles: Two
Age limit: 38 for referral, 40 for treatment

Highland
Waiting time: Nine-12 months
Cycles: Three Age limit: 38 for referral, 40 for treatment

Lanarkshire
Waiting time: 13 months
Cycles: Two
Age limit: 38 for referral, 40 for treatment

Lothian
Waiting time: 36 months
Cycles: Three - frozen embryo transfer is counted as separate cycle
Age limit: 38 for treatment

Orkney
Waiting time: Six-nine months
Cycles: Two
Age limit: 40 for treatment

Shetland
Waiting time: N/A
Cycles: Three
Age limit: 40 for treatment

Tayside
Waiting time: 12 months; patients return to end of waiting list if unsuccessful
Cycles: Three
Age limit: 40 for referral

Western Isles
Waiting time: N/A
Cycles: Three
Age limit: 38 for referral