Steve McCabe called for the debate after being contacted by constituents who have had distressing experiences trying to get fertility treatment through the NHS.
In the last year, three clinical commissioning groups (South Norfolk, Mid-Essex CCG and North East)have already decommissioned their assisted conception services as a cost saving measure and now a further twenty-six are either considering reducing provision or decommissioning their assisted conception services entirely.
Assisted conception services, like IVF, have for a long time been subject to a postcode lottery because CCGs, which hold the budgets for healthcare, are not following the long standing National Institute for Care and Excellence (NICE) clinical guidelines. A national audit carried out in 2015 found that more than eight in ten CCGs in England do not comply with the NICE guidelines on IVF treatment, and the situation is deteriorating rapidly as CCGs try to save money due to tight budgetary constraints.
A recent Early Day Motion, tabled by Steve McCabe calling on the government to stop CCGs decommissioning their assisted conception services has demonstrated the cross-party support for this issue.
The three hour long debate, which will give MPs an opportunity to voice their constituents concerns, is scheduled to take place on Thursday the 19th of January at 1:30 pm.
Great bblog I enjoyed reading