Lothian has longest waiting times for fertility treatment

Published on Tuesday 20 October 2009 09:39

HEALTH bosses in the Lothians came under fire today for having the longest waiting times and largest waiting list for women seeking fertility treatment.

The average waiting time for IVF treatment in Lothian is approximately three years, while some health boards say their patients are treated within six months. And there are currently around 400 women on the waiting list in Lothian, many more than any of the other 11 boards which released details in response to Freedom of Information requests by the Labour Party.

The figures show there has been little improvement since May 2007 when there were 460 on the waiting list and the list had gone up from two years to three years.

While Lothian had the longest waiting time at three years, the maximum waiting time in Fife was 26 months and in Greater Glasgow & Clyde it was 22 months, but NHS Borders had no waiting list and all patients were treated within six months of referral. NHS Lanarkshire also said its patients could expect to be treated within six months.

Edinburgh Central Labour MSP Sarah Boyack said the figures were shocking.

She said: "We need action from the Scottish Government to end what is effectively a postcode lottery.

"It's completely unfair that women in Lothian have to wait such a long time when in other parts of Scotland women can get treated in less than 12 months. The Scottish Government should step in and tell the health board it must speed up its times."

She called for more resources to be put into fertility treatment in the Lothians.

"Clearly there is a lack of resources to deal with the demand there is in this area. What I would be hoping would be for the Scottish Government to say, regardless of where you live in Scotland you should get equal access to IVF."

Susan Seenan, of support group Infertility Network Scotland, said work was under way to meet health boards across Scotland to try and address problems with waiting lists.

She said: "Infertility Network Scotland is currently working with the Scottish Government on a project to work with health boards to help them to address the inequity of access to fertility treatment, including variations in waiting times."

Jackie Sansbury, director of strategic planning and modernisation at NHS Lothian, said: "

We are working with the Scottish Government and infertility services to establish a common pattern of provision across the country.

"As part of a review of our fertility services we are investing an additional 180,000 to increase the number of IVF cycles we are able to offer by around 40 per cent during 2009-10."