Patient Experiences of Accessing Treatment

[SusanS]

Infertility Patient Survey 2011

Infertility Network UK leads the National Infertility Awareness Campaign (NIAC) which works on behalf of infertility patients throughout the UK to end the postcode lottery and replace this with a fair and equitable infertility service for every patient irrespective of where they live.

You may see copies of a poster in your clinic highlighting this patient survey which NIAC is conducting to help us to build a picture of the problems people encounter in accessing NHS treatment and which we can use to ensure your experiences are highlighted and help us in our fight for better NHS funding

The NICE Fertility Guidance issued in 2004 which was based on clinical effectiveness as well as cost effectiveness recommended that eligible couples in England and Wales, where the woman is aged between 23 and 39, should receive three full cycles of treatment. Over the last few years we have seen a gradual improvement in the provision of treatment by many Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) in England, however we know that some still refuse to fund treatment, or provide only one cycle with others implementing restrictive access criteria. This is totally unfair on patients – after all access to treatment should not be dependent on your postcode! Patients in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland can also often face problems in accessing treatment.

We hope as many patients as possible will complete the survey which only takes a few minutes to complete on line at surveymonkey.com/s/QL8CV76 and we can send copies of the survey out to anyone who can’t complete the on line version – just contact us on 0800 008 7464 or email [e-mail]

Please share details of the survey with other patients, including those who may have finished treatment – the more patients who complete the survey the better able we will be to build up an accurate picture of the problems being encountered by patients. Remember, we can only help you to fight for fair and equitable NHS funding if you help us.