PollenTree

HFEA £3.4 million surplus

The Human Fertility and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is apparently sitting on a cash surplus of £3.4 million.


IVF treament for 850 women
This sum would allow approximately 850 extra women to receive IVF treatment in the UK.


HFEA funding
The surplus which is equivalent to 50% of the HFEA annual budget has built-up because the HFEA receives payments from every clinic (both NHS and private) of £75 for every time a woman has treatment.


Money returned?
Health campaigners have urged the HFEA to return the money to the relevant NHS trusts, particularly given the steady withdrawal of IVF treatment on the NHS.


IVF treatment on NHS
Currently five Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) do not provide any NHS IVF treatment, and three quarters of PCTs are not providing the three rounds of IVF treatment as recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). Other PCTs are denying women treatment if they do not meet their strict criteria, for example those deemed too fat, thin, young or old.

Clare Lewis-Jones of the charity Infertility UK, said: "We believe the funds built up by the HFEA should be re-invested back into the area which they regulate and that infertility patients should in some way benefit from this excess."

However, the HFEA has countered that the money has been accumulated through "prudent" budgeting and that returning it would be too complex to do.

Dr Allan Pacey of the British Fertility Society (BFS), said: "The BFS believes it is inappropriate for the regulator to amass such a sum, which by its own admission is “unusually large”. ‘We will be writing to the HFEA chief executive to ask for an explanation.’

The HFEA has stated that returning the money has been ruled out after discussions with the Department of Health. However, the HFEA has said that instead the money will be spent wisely over the next three years.

Read more at: dailymail.co.uk