IVF campaigner from Peterborough takes the fertility fight to Parliament

An IVF campaigner from Peterborough has spoken in Parliament to call for an end to the ‘postcode lottery’ for NHS-funded fertility treatment.

Amber Izzo, 30, took her Fertility Access campaign to Westminster yesterday (Wednesday), joined by various health industry leaders.

The campaign asks for equal access to NHS funded IVF across England, adhering to guidelines set out by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) – which recommend three fully-funded cycles for women under 40.

“Our campaign asks for the NICE guidelines to be adhered to,” said Amber, “standardising the criteria to ensure equal access to all, including step-parents: becoming couple centric, regardless of whether your partner has children from a previous relationship.

"We were joined by industry leaders, Dr Jonathan Ramsay - UK's leading urologist, Dr Anand Patel - GP and Men's Sexual Health Expert, Embryologist Emma Whitney (The Evewell) and Dr Carole Gilling-Smith - founder of The Agora Clinic, as seen in Katie Price's Channel 4 'Making Babies' documentary this week.

"All of us got to speak at the hearing, which was well-attended by numerous MPs including Andrew Pakes MP.”

Speaking to the Peterborough Telegraph about the hearing, Mr Pakes commented: “It was a privilege to meet with Fertility Access UK in Parliament yesterday, including with Amber Izzo – a constituent and passionate co-founder of Fertility Access.

“There were powerful and honest conversations throughout the meeting about current barriers, but also constructive suggestions for how we can tackle these in the future.”

He added: “I will certainly support the campaign for better access to fertility treatment across Peterborough.”

Locally, women under 40 are currently offered one fully NHS-funded cycle of IVF through the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

However, before Amber’s campaign to reinstate the service in 2021, there had been no funded IVF treatments offered in the area since the CCG suspended them in 2017, due to financial reasons.

The campaign, which began in Peterborough, was originally called ‘Fight for IVF’ – and was supported by the Peterborough Telegraph.

Amber explains: “In 2020, after being forced to spend in excess of £20,000 on private IVF treatment due to the postcode lottery, meaning I had no access to funding, I launched a campaign which resulted in the reinstatement of IVF on the NHS in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough in 2021.

"After my previous success, I partnered with Katie Rollings (co-founder of Fertility Action Network) to progress the Fertility Access campaign on a national level.”

Before this, Amber and her husband had paid for two private cycles of IVF, along with private tests for her husband – which uncovered an issue. After this was treated, the couple qualified for a third round of IVF via the NHS – which proved to be successful. The couple are now parents to a two year-old son.

"I do believe that in many cases like ours, that the issues of infertility can be fixed,” said Amber.

“We are very passionate about this cause. Currently, only 27% of IVF cycles in the UK are NHS funded (HFEA), despite NICE guidelines recommending three fully funded cycles for women under the age of 40.

"Infertility has a profound impact on mental health - 90% of those living with infertility experience symptoms of depression; 60% experience trauma or say it has amplified existing trauma, and 40% experience suicidal thoughts.”

She added: “We are also asking for male fertility services to be improved. Our survey, carried out by Dr Anand Patel on 100 GPs across the UK, showed that 80% have not received any education in male fertility assessments or treatment. By improving education, resources and support at a primary and secondary care level, we can reduce not only the number of people with male factor fertility needing IVF at all, but also increase success rates for those that do - thus saving the NHS money.”

Summarising the hearing at Westminster, she concluded: “MPs were very engaged across different parties, and we are looking forward to working with them going forward.”