King to look again at IVF backdating in face of anger

A Government decision denying hundreds of childless couples a second chance at funded in-vitro fertilisation treatment could be reviewed after Health Minister Annette King admitted the consultation should have been better.

Ms King made a surprise announcement at the weekend that only people who had their first cycle of IVF after July 1 last year would be eligible for a second round of Government-funded treatment.

This would mean couples such as Wayne and Michelle Gillespie of Carterton, who tried IVF without success in 2000, would miss out on an offer on which they had pinned all their hopes.

They were thrilled by Ms King's announcement in July that couples who did not conceive after one IVF cycle would be funded for a second cycle from October.

Yesterday, they were crushed by the news that the offer would be backdated only 15 months.

"I think it's discriminatory if we miss out because of the timing," Mrs Gillespie said.

"We've been waiting for four years. We couldn't afford to pay for IVF on our own - it would cost about $10,000.

"If we miss out altogether I'll be absolutely gutted, especially when they got my hopes up again and we've wanted this for so long. We're just really, really angry about it."

Mr Gillespie said the disappointment was like coping with another miscarriage.

Sue Domanski, executive director of the advocacy group Fertility NZ, said the decision to backdate funding only as far as last July was a "cruel, bureaucratic blunder" created by a lack of consultation.

When an extra $4 million in fertility funding was announced in July, a commitment was made to discuss the implementation with district health boards, Fertility NZ and IVF clinics, but this had not happened, she said.

The minister said yesterday that she was not happy with the consultation the Health Ministry carried out.

"I don't think their process was as good as it should have been in terms of consultation and I've made that clear to them."

Health Ministry officials had agreed to meet Fertility NZ and listen to its arguments.

But there were always going to be anomalies and disappointment when the decision was made to backdate funding, Ms King said.

"What about all the people who have paid for treatment themselves in the meantime? We couldn't refund them, and they would be disadvantaged."

Ms King said if the offer was backdated further than July last year, it would create a service backlog that would not be cleared until 2007.

Health Ministry spokesman Colin Feek acknowledged that the consultation process was "not perfect" and said the decision could be reviewed depending on the outcome of meetings with Fertility NZ.

He said it was difficult to make new funding arrangements retrospective without disadvantaging people.

"It's not perfect but these decisions never are. From the ministry's point of view we want a service in the future which is fair and sustainable."

Ms Domanski said Fertility NZ would try to show the Health Ministry how the $4 million in fertility funding could be fairly distributed.

- NZPA