Berkshire couple move 200 miles for IVF treatment

Craig and Anne-Marie Minter are moving to Greater Manchester for IVF treatment

A couple are moving more than 200 miles from their home to boost their chances of having a child.

Craig and Anne-Marie Minter are leaving Berkshire for Greater Manchester because NHS services there offer more cycles of IVF treatment.

Mrs Minter said she was "disappointed" local health services could not provide the same amount of treatment as others.

Clinical commissioning groups in the Thames Valley currently offer one cycle of IVF, compared to three in Bury.

Berkshire West Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said its offer of one IVF cycle per couple allowed "more couples to receive the treatment".

Mr and Mrs Minter, from Thatcham, said they decided to look at other parts of the country for IVF treatment after learning of the disparity in cycles.

Having tried for four years to conceive, Mrs Minter, 33, said having a baby "would mean the world and complete the family".

Mr Minter, 34, added: "We understand if it [the treatment] doesn't work but we really want a chance at it."

The couple, who move north at the end of July, have been able to keep their current jobs by being allowed to work from home and to transfer branches.

In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF)

• An egg is removed from the woman's ovaries and fertilised with sperm in a laboratory

• The fertilised egg is then returned to the woman's womb to develop

• IVF worked for the first time on 10 November 1977. On 25 July 1978, the world's first IVF baby Louise Brown was born

• On average, IVF fails 70% of the time

• The highest success rates are for women under 35

• On average, it takes almost four and a half years to conceive with IVF

Source: Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority/Fertility Network UK

Sarah Norcross, co-chair of campaign group Fertility Fairness, said a so-called "postcode lottery" of IVF access was "rife across England".

She added: "We are just about to celebrate 70 years of the NHS and 40 years of IVF in the UK, and for it to come to this where people are having to move house to access treatment is really appalling and shocking."

• 'I had IVF for a couple I'll never meet'

• IVF: Patients face postcode lottery for treatment

• 'Our baby dream feels further away'

In 2017, figures showed that only 12% of CCGs in England were meeting the guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence stating women under 40 who have failed to get pregnant after two years of trying should be offered three full cycles of IVF on the NHS.

A Berkshire West CCG spokesperson said it "has a legal duty to provide health services for all patients across west Berkshire within the budget allocated".

"The CCGs within the Thames Valley have come together to develop a common policy to manage this."