THOUSANDS more couples could get IVF if the NHS stopped paying rip-off rates, a fertility expert has claimed.
Geeta Nargund said it was a “scandal” some health chiefs paid £11,000 a cycle when others paid just £3,000.
PA:Press Association
She blamed “mismanagement” for the gap and urged clinical commissioning groups, which spend NHS cash locally, to adopt the lower rate.
Only one in ten comply with watchdog Nice’s guidelines to offer three free IVF cycles.
Health adviser Prof Nargund said: “We need one national price. Within the existing budget we could be funding three times the cycles we’re funding now.”
Aileen Feeney, of Fertility Network UK, said: “It’s so disappointing that IVF was invented in England and now you only get treated if you can afford it or live in the right place.”
PA:Press Association
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