IVF for single women to be considered in NHS review

The Scottish government has launched a national review into whether IVF treatment on the NHS should be extended to single women.

The review – which is due to release its findings next summer - will also consider whether greater access should be offered to couples who have children from previous relationships.

Health Secretary Angela Constance said: "Access to NHS IVF treatment should be fair, timely and reflect the way people's lives and families look today."

The review has been welcomed by campaigners and some experts, but others have questioned whether it is the right way to prioritise funds in a cash-strapped NHS.

Most single women are not currently eligible for IVF treatment on the NHS in Scotland.

Maeve MacKinnon, from Glasgow, was at the top of the waiting list to begin NHS IVF treatment when she and her male partner split up.

Maeve, who was 38 at the time, asked if she could keep her place on the list.

"I asked whether I could stay with my consultant for treatment, and she said no, because you can't continue if you are a solo parent.

"I was kind of expecting it because I knew what the policy was, but it was still a punch to the gut."

She feels the policy is "enormously unfair" and discriminatory.

"With all the advances we have made – I have friends who are in same-sex relationships for example - you are still discriminated against if you are not in a partnership."

Maeve instead borrowed money to start private IVF, and now has a four-year-old girl called Màili.

Although it cost her more than £7,000, she couldn't be happier.

"My life is so much richer for having her than I could ever possibly have imagined, and actually I probably wouldn't change the way I did it, as difficult as it was.

"At least I'm the one making decisions on behalf of my child and I'm not having the experience of other women I know, who are having disputes over custody or child support payments."

Maeve believes strongly that being a single should not be a barrier to parenthood.

"I know so many women who have started off with husbands or partners who have ended up splitting up, or have partners who are not actually involved in the child's life anyway," she said.

Campaigners have welcomed the review.

"It's an essential and long-awaited decision that will impact a huge number of people who are struggling to grow their families," said Katie Rollings of Fertility Action.

She said there is "no evidence" that having two parents rather than one determines whether a child will thrive.

She added: "What matters is whether a child is loved, safe, supported and has stable, positive relationships around them."

The latest data from the UK's fertility regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) shows Scotland is the only UK nation where there are more NHS funded cycles of IVF than privately funded.

In 2024, there were more than 6,000 cycles of fertility treatment carried out on more than 4,000 patients in Scotland, both numbers down slightly from record highs in 2022.

The last 20 years have seen a big rise in the number of same-sex female couples and single women.

In 2024, 625 cycles of IVF were carried out on women in same sex couples in Scotland - with over one third of them on the NHS.

A total of 330 cycles were carried out on single women - but only 50 of them were NHS-funded.

In England, single women can access IVF on the NHS, but eligibility varies widely depending on the local health trust's policy.

Currently in Scotland, couples are eligible for the treatment if they have been living in a stable relationship for two years and neither has been sterilised.

The rules say that couples where one partner has a child are eligible, but not where both already have children from previous relationships.

They also stipulate a body mass index (BMI) above 18.5 and below 30, and that couples do not smoke, drink alcohol or take drugs during the treatment. The mother must be under 42-years-old.

The Scottish government said the review would also look at consistency of access to fertility preservation - for example during cancer treatment - and reducing waiting times for donor eggs or sperm.

Same-sex female couples already have access to NHS IVF treatment, but like heterosexual couples who need donor eggs or sperm they can face long wait times.

The National Fertility Group will lead the review and make "costed, demand-modelled recommendations", to be published by early summer 2027.

It will include fertility experts from all four of Scotland's NHS-assisted conception units in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee.

Prof Sarah Martins Da Silva, an NHS consultant and chair of fertility medicine at Dundee University, said there are questions to be answered in a resource-stretched NHS.

"As a fertility specialist I'm never going to be disappointed if the criteria is widened," she told BBC Scotland News.

"But with single people, as an NHS clinician looking at the competing demands we have, I'd ask the question about whether being single is a health condition that needs to be funded."

Da Silva said NHS waiting lists were full of couples who need donated eggs or sperm due to medical conditions including cancer, who could face longer waits.

"It's slightly a disservice to them," she said. "There would need to be a real investment and resource without making everybody wait an extraordinary long time.

"With the current financial environment we work in, if you're talking about new money, where would that come from?"

However, she said that she would welcome any change that would encourage more people to donate eggs or sperm.

She does not believe that arguments about whether a child needs two parents are necessarily relevant to the debate.

"On the one hand bringing up a child is quite an expensive process, and if you don't have that support, it can be very difficult.

"But on the other hand, many people start off as a couple and divorce."

Da Silva welcomed the news that the review will also look at couples who already have children, describing it as "fantastic".

Campaigners have also welcomed the review.

"It's an essential and long-awaited decision that will impact a huge number of people who are struggling to grow their families," said Katie Rollings of Fertility Action.