00:00Hello and welcome to Manchester World. My name is Theo Hewson-Bett and it's another pretty lovely day here in Manchester.
00:07Today we're going to be talking about a proposed change in the way that IVF is approached here in Greater Manchester by the NHS.
00:13Now as things stand, families in different parts of the Greater Manchester region can claim inconsistent numbers of free IVF treatments on the NHS.
00:21Now while six boroughs of the area only see one cycle of free treatment allowed,
00:25for women in Tameside they're granted three cycles and with Salford, Stockport and Wigan they allow women to try twice.
00:33Now residents of the region are being urged to get involved and offer feedback on the proposed changes
00:37with the NHS arguing that the changes will make it fair for everyone and cheaper for the NHS
00:42with the idea being to make it consistent across the whole region and take it down to one attempt at IVF implantation per woman.
00:51The consultation is available online for anyone who wants to make their feelings known.
00:55Now IVF is the shortened version of in vitro fertilisation, which is a process that sees parents who are having trouble conceiving naturally
01:01for any reason allowed to have a child that bears their genetics rather than turning towards adoption or something else.
01:07Now it can be a very expensive treatment and actually not many countries across the world offer it as part of their free health service.
01:14It involves fertilising an egg with a sperm in a lab environment before implanting the embryo into the womb of a woman.
01:20Now it can work, but it's not always effective first time, certainly, which could cause some consternation around the announcement today.
01:28Now Graham Manchester itself has a pretty long history with IVF, with the first woman born through the technique actually hailing from Oldham.
01:34So let us know what you think.
01:35Do you think it's fair for women under the age of 39 to be restricted to one attempt at IVF on the NHS?
