# reply from prime minister



## Guest (Aug 31, 2007)

please feel free to move this or remove if it has already been posted 

i signed a petition a while back to get more funding for ivf/icsi on the nhs.

i got a reply today with the answer  personally i dont understand what he is saying but it seems to me he is just using loads of big words to basically say nothings gonna change?

heres the details of the petition.....

31 August 2007

We received a petition asking:

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Arrange more funding for infertility (IVF, ICSI etc) for those who need this treatment in order to have a child."

Details of petition:

"With infertility rates on the increase and birth rates falling why should we be depriving people infertility treatment? Being infertile or unable to conceive is devastating and the current postcode lottery only makes it harder having to cope emotionally and financially. Why should those, especially those who have paid taxes and full NI contributions be deprived of medical treatment without individual assessment and advice just like other services offered by the NHS? As a wise man once told me; "When man came to earth by whatever means you believe he soon discovered death - he knew to die, and soon learned of 3 coping strategies for survival 1)Medicine, which would postpone the inevitable 2)Eternal Life, Life after death 3)Replication, to reproduce So why should we be deprived from these coping strategy's" Infertility is a medical problem,and if IVF/ICSI etc can help us individuals and help our falling birth rates then why should it be deprived to us from the NHS?

and heres the response.....

The Minister of State for Public Health, Dawn Primarolo is currently developing a programme of work to improve the way IVF services are provided.

To enable the NHS to provide the most appropriate clinical treatment for patients with infertility problems, we asked the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) to produce a guideline. The guideline, which was published in February 2004, recommended amongst other treatments the provision of up to three cycles of IVF for eligible patients. We recognised, as did NICE, that it would take time for this to be fully implemented across the NHS.

The Department of Health is funding the leading fertility patient support organisation, Infertility Network UK, to work with the NHS to identify and share best practice in the provision of IVF. The aim is for Primary Care Trusts, who deliver services at local level, to learn from each other, in order to raise standards overall. It is important that Primary Care Trusts take account of the opinions of patients when assessing the need for fertility services.

In partnership with the NHS, Infertility Network UK will develop social access criteria to help Primary Care Trusts develop a standardised approach across the country for deciding which couples are provided with NHS treatment.

The Department of Health will work together with Infertility Network UK and the NHS to improve the provision of fertility services. In addition, the Department of Health will monitor IVF provision across the country, to help identify where further work is required to assist Primary Care Trusts in assessing the needs of fertility patients and helping them to deliver those services in an equitable way. 


what do you make of it?

maz xxx


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## MrsRedcap (Jan 6, 2006)

I got one too...Seems like the old typical 'spin'


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## Lou F ❁ (Feb 28, 2003)

me too !!


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## Mish3434 (Dec 14, 2004)

me too!! Somethings never change   I'm sure if was happening to one of them they might hurry up and make the changes that they said they would

Shelley x


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## Edna (Mar 19, 2005)

My heart sank when I got this. I didn't realise that "the dim prawn" was now involved with IVF provision. (DH and I lost respect for her over the work visas for IT staff issue when she was at the treasury). 

Same old spin. I'll believe that they'll sort it out when I see results.


Edna


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## caz24 (Nov 25, 2004)

yeah i got one too ! wish they would make the bloody changes now


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## jan welshy (Jan 18, 2003)

I could sum my opinion in one very rude word, but I will not sink so low. Ty[ical s[in, little substance, basically it means 'we know there are problems, we are not willing to put in writing the details of the problems, we know there are areas of INCONSISTANCY but are not willing to detail them and think the public willbelieve our spin whilst we do nothing about it'. Sorry but I have such little trust in these. I hope to be proved wrong....one day.


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## zipppy (Feb 7, 2006)

i personally wrote to both prime minister n health secertary over funding n got lets back from both saying they wished me best of luck for future, a month later i was at top of nhs ivf list


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## Greeneyed (Apr 12, 2006)

Talks about recommendations, commitees, guidance etc, but commits to absolutely nothing. A completely pointless response! 

I would like to write a response to my local MP, but for now I am afraid I will be keeping my powder dry in case I need my MP to take up a personal case in the future. 

We should probably start another petition along similar lines so that the issue is kept paramount and we are not seen to have gone away!


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## caz24 (Nov 25, 2004)

good adea - i agree with greeneyed that we should put another one together.

caz x


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## beattie2 (Dec 30, 2005)

I agree, very disappointed with the response. If the government can hand out money to pregnant women to eat healthily than they can certainly be putting more into IVF treatment for women who can't get pregnant.


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## Greeneyed (Apr 12, 2006)

Interesting point Beattie!


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## caz24 (Nov 25, 2004)

hi girls,

also thought about this,  hope it's okay for me to say this but, i wanted to say if we do put together another petion could we put something on there about the long Waiting cuz it's like 3 - 4 years waiting time - which is ages.

caz x


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## hbrodie (Aug 17, 2007)

why are MPs etc so adept at avoiding the actual question?   If I had handed in an assignment at uni with that amount of drivvel in it, my lecturer would hand it back to me and say - 'go away and look at the question again - have you answered it? No, you need to' Why is there no one who does this for the powers that be in London? 

We can't have icsi on the nhs as dh has dd from prev relationship. I have never had a baby or been pg, never even thought I was or had the morning after pill. Now it is my turn to be pg but I can't because dh has 98% asa and this is therefore a medical problem - something that needs icsi to get over as its' treatment. The NHS is refusing to pay for this medical treatment as dh has fathered a child - not with me though!   so where do I fit into this Grand Plan from the government and NICE and the local NHS trust? Nowhere obviously.  I have no feelings and no womb aching for a baby - damn, I must remember this!  I must brush my feelings under tha carpet as we live in an area that won't reply to letters, that won't respond to e-mails, and that won't be open to discussion / appeal on the matter. Post code lottery, we have it here! Other trusts will allow 1 go on ivf in the nhs, not this one, and I work for the flipping nhs too! 

sorry, bit of a rant, very frustrated!


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## Greeneyed (Apr 12, 2006)

H Brodie, That is so unfair  

xx


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## hbrodie (Aug 17, 2007)

hi greeneyed, 
thanks for your reply. I am glad it is not just me that feels it is unfair. I feel a bit selfish sometimes as there are some people who have no child from either partner and need ivf - they get it on the nhs I think and therefore fabulous news for them and I am really pleased it is there and available for them, but I wish I could have it on the nhs too   , but then I think that some people, not from FF as we are all lovely here, may think 'well you have one child in the family so IVF funding should be for childless couples' which we have had said to us before   - but I am a childless lady and as a 'couple' we are a childless couple too. step DD was from dh's previous marriage when he was a different 'couple'. 

I really hope I get responses from people I have written to soon. I worte to our gp who said 'not her call' but she'd write to the pct, then I wrote to the PCT who said 'no - you can appeal but will be refused again' (great!) then I wrote to our MP who has passed it back to the PCT even though I told him the PCT wouldn't help   ! stupid man!  .
I will be writing to the GP again when we know what drugs we need and their costs and I will be asking with help to fund these from the surgery at least!

Thanks for your support, sending you hugs  
helen,xx


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## caz24 (Nov 25, 2004)

thats totally unfair hbrodie,

god i hate all this i wish we could all get what we need to do with treatment and stuff it's hard enough to deal with anyway, pct sound bloody useless   and people saying things like 'well you have one child in the family" god how ignorant!   anyways sending you some  

caz 
xx


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## hbrodie (Aug 17, 2007)

thanks caz. hugs received and appreciated!  DH thinks I get too worked up about things sometimes, like the funding issue - he is the kinda person who just accepts what life throws at him - not me though, I like to fight poo decisions, gets me no where though evidently, apart from being stressed! 

whereabouts do you live in Kent? I grew up In Gravesend, but was born in Chatham. Mum still lives in Gravesend.


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## caz24 (Nov 25, 2004)

thats okay hbrodie i think my dp is a bit like that too sometimes, i think i am as well if im honest becasue i always think it wont get me anywhere but i would def fight for it if it was to do with funding, lets hope you'll get some decent answers off the pct soon eh  
weve lived in gravesend for a while myself (only 6 months though an i liked it there) and chatham, for about 3 months, but now live in greenhithe near dartford (were still renting so moved a few times (rubbish landlords ect)ive got an hospital appointment at 3 so best to have some lunch and start dreading it lol.

pm me if you like 
caz x


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