A DEAL has been negotiated with two UK-based fertility clinics to offer “lower rates” for around 90 government-funded cycles of in vitro fertilisation per year.
Deputy Lucy Stephenson – who last year lodged a successful proposition to improve fertility funding in the Island – recently asked the Health Minister to provide an update on the new IVF funding model.
In response, Deputy Tom Binet said that the Health Department has “negotiated new, lower rates with two UK-based IVF providers” to potentially allow for around 90 government-funded IVF cycles per year, “depending on the treatment requirements of individual clients”.
He confirmed that the two IVF clinics are Lister Fertility Clinic in London, and the Bristol Centre for Reproductive Medicine.
It comes after new access criteria for IVF funding came into force in Jersey on 1 January 2025.
Under the new model, all couples are eligible for one funded cycle of the fertility treatment, irrespective of income. Those with a gross household income of less than £200,000 are eligible for two funded cycles of IVF, while couples earning under £82,300 are eligible for three funded cycles.
In addition to the financial criteria, couples must meet a set of additional specifications, including age and BMI restrictions.
There is also the requirement for the couple to be in a stable relationship, and for both partners to be childless – including children from previous relationships.
Deputy Stephenson previously raised concerns that the IVF funding criteria might exclude existing parents struggling to conceive another child.
And experts said that same-sex couples are likely to face higher costs under the new funding model, while the chief executive of a local equality and diversity charity said it was “disappointing” that Jersey’s LGBTQ+ community had not been consulted during the development of the guidelines.
The Health Minister himself previously acknowledged that the new funding criteria excludes some groups of people including single people of all genders, same-sex male couples, couples where one or both partners are already a parent, couples who have already privately funded their own IVF treatment, and couples with higher household incomes.
Deputy Binet has therefore pledged to continuously monitor the IVF funding criteria with a view to reviewing it at the end of March. “At that point in time information about client numbers and treatment timeframes will be available,” he added.
