IVF TREATMENT FOR OXFORDSHIRE COUPLES

That this House notes that National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance states that IVF treatment should be funded for people aged between 23 and 39 years; further notes with concern that Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust only funds such treatment for couples aged between 35 and 38 years and refuses treatment to those where either partner has had a child, even if that child was born in a previous relationship; is encouraged that the Trust is currently reviewing its guidelines to reduce the age range to 30 years; and calls on Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust to go further and bring its guidelines into line with NICE guidance so that this vital treatment is available to the many couples in Oxfordshire who currently require such treatment but who fall outside the Primary Care Trust's current guidelines.