To ask the Minister of Health for an update on the full implementation of the New Decade, New Approach commitment for In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF).

On 15 February, I announced that publicly funded In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) treatment will increase to one full cycle for eligible women.

Until that point, those women eligible for publicly funded IVF treatment were entitled to receive one fresh and one frozen embryo transfer, even if they achieve a live birth with the first transfer. Under the recent change, any eligible woman who does not achieve a live birth with either her fresh or first frozen embryo transfers, and still has frozen embryos, will be entitled to further treatment until either she has a live birth or she has transferred all her frozen embryos. It is expected that this will benefit approximately 150 women each year.

A woman will be eligible if she meets the published access criteria for IVF and has been placed on the waiting list for publicly funded IVF/ICSI treatment on or after 1 October 2022.

Whilst I would support further expansion of the service, it will require recurrent funding assurances, which have not been provided at this time. In addition, the Regional Fertility Centre will need to increase its physical footprint and ensure the appropriate number of specialist staff are available to deliver any further increase in provision.

A copy of the press release can be accessed at https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/news/increase-funded-ivf-provision .