(2) how many strategic health authorities are implementing the Government guidelines on providing women with one cycle of IVF on the NHS;
(3) what estimate her Department has made of the cost to the NHS of implementing Government guidelines that women suffering from infertility should be able to get one cycle of IVF on the NHS.
We are funding the patient support organisation Infertility Network UK to work with primary care trusts (PCTs) to identify and share good practice in the provision of fertility services, including in vitro fertilisation. The implementation of guidelines produced by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), including the NICE fertility guideline, is a matter for individual PCTs, in discussion with local health bodies and patient groups, and taking account of local circumstances. There is no firm central estimate of the current cost to the NHS of providing one cycle of IVF. When the fertility guideline was published, NICE issued a costing template for use by individual PCTs.