IVF clinics could reopen within two weeks

IVF clinics could reopen as early as May 11, it has been reported.

Heath Secretary Matt Hancock said it is right to restore services ‘now we are past the peak’ of the coronavirus crisis.

It comes after the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) ruled both NHS and private clinics would suspend IVF treatment from April 15.

The HFEA, the government body which regulates IVF clinics in the UK, said patients in the middle of an IVF cycle will have their treatment suspended indefinitely.

And all new treatments were banned for safety reasons relating to Covid-19.

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‘Their advice is that clinics should plan to stop treatments over the next three weeks, allowing patients to complete any cycle they have started,’ it said at the time.

‘We have written to all UK licensed clinics to tell them that we expect them to follow this guidance.

‘I recognise that this is very distressing for many of you as it means you have already or will have your treatment stopped or delayed.’

The suspension caused fears that many women who were due to undergo IVF would be too old to do so after lockdown was lifted.

Many of the 68,000 women who choose to have IVF every year in the UK are in their late 30 or early 40s and have little time to delay.

IVF success rates go from 23 per cent for women aged between 35 to 37, down to 15 per cent for women aged 38 to 39 and just 9 per cent for women aged 40 to 42, according to the NHS. 

Private clinics typically refuse to treat women aged 45 and over, while NHS clinical commissioning groups do not generally allow women a second round of IVF after they turn 40.  

The decision to ban all treatments is likely to prevent the births of at least 20,000 babies, HFEA figures suggest, should it remain in place for 12 months.

This is a breaking news story, more to follow.

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