Passport to parenthood

A call has been made by a leading IVF doctor to give patients who are travelling abroad for treatment an effective cross-border agency to ensure the best possible care for them.  Workingmums.co.uk looks at the problems infertile couples face and why they’re seeking help from other countries.

A call has been made by a leading IVF doctor to give patients who are travelling abroad for treatment an effective cross-border agency to ensure the best possible care for them.  Workingmums.co.uk looks at the problems infertile couples face and why they’re seeking help from other countries.

IVF
The recent award of the Nobel Prize for Medicine to Prof Robert Edwards has again thrown the spotlight on IVF, the procedure that Prof Edwards developed with his colleague Patrick Steptoe. IVF has now become more commonplace, but it was a development that transformed the lives of of people worldwide and offered hope to childless couples where previously there was none.  The birth of the first IVF baby, Louise Brown, in 1978 after a decade of work and many failed attempts was hailed as proof that the technique was safe and effective.  Since the first IVF babies have produced their own children naturally, experts say we are now seeing the procedure is also safe in the long-term. 

Why are couples seeking help abroad?
It’s estimated that infertility affects about one in every seven couples – 12,000 IVF babies are born in the UK every year.  But there are new developments which have resulted in couples turning to IVF treatment abroad in a bid to help them conceive a cherished child.
”There are already serious issues about the removal of anonymity for donors and whether that deters donors from coming forward,” says Dr Gedis Grudzinskas, an independent consultant in infertility and gynaecologogy, based in Harley Street, London, and the London Bridge Hospital and Princess Grace Hospital, London.
”The long waiting lists for donors has resulted in cross-border reproductive care, where patients are prepared to travel overseas for treatment. 
”Another attraction is the ability to circumvent UK legislation, which now prohibits the use of anonymous donors or the transfer of multiple embryos.  It is to everyone’s advantage, patients and healthcare professionals, to ensure that people who go overseas for treatment receive the best possible care.”

Current problems
It is now more than 30 years since the first IVF baby was born.  Worldwide almost four million babies have been born after IVF treatment.  But there are still issues surrounding IVF which have to be tackled – there is a shortage of sperm and eggs.  The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has announced it is to hold a full, public consultation into donation policies – its results will be available in May.
But in the meantime, the Society of Cross-border Reproductive Care is seeking to tighten up IVF care abroad.  It is drafting a professional and ethical charter to advance quality of care safeguards. Also, an accreditation committee is being set up to determine the requirement for receiving SCRC accreditation, i.e. an international ‘quality seal’ which could be of significant value for patients and caregivers.
This area is to be discussed at two forthcoming conferences. The first, Passport to Parenthood: The evidence and ethics behind cross-border reproductive care, is to be held at London’s Institute of Child Health on Wed 24th November.  The second conference is to go ahead in March next year in Florence.
Dr Grudsinskas, formerly emeritus professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at St Bartholomews & The Royal London Hospital School of Medicine and Dentistry, warned: ”We must consider what we can do to help patients who travel overseas in order to have the treatment that they are unable to have in the UK.
”In an ideal world, any patient should be able to have all healthcare treatment close to home, but as that is just not possible, we need to do whatever we can to guarantee the quality of advice and care that fertility patients receive overseas.”

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