The East Midlands IVF Postcode Lottery is not fair.

Hannah Newby has the chance to have the family she’s “always dreamed of” on the NHS.

The 33-year-old was diagnosed in 2023 with Turner syndrome, a genetic disorder that caused her to unwittingly go through early menopause as a teenager, leading to infertility.

Living in Southwell in Nottinghamshire, Mrs Newby only has access to one cycle of IVF under local NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB) policy – but if she lives about 20 miles (32km) away in the Bassettla district, So they will get three cycles.

As health bosses propose changes to the policy, Mrs Newby is urging them to end the “postcode lottery” and make the system fairer.

Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) is calling on residents to express their views on policies around fertility services by answering an online survey.

Under its current policy, Bassetlaw is the only area in the county where residents have access to three rounds of IVF on the NHS.

Guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) states that women under 40 should be offered three cycles if they meet certain conditions.

“I think it’s crazy that we can live in the same region but have differences,” Mrs Newby said. “I think having a family is a right.”

Access to NHS fertility services also depends on other criteria, such as health, age, having children from a previous relationship.

And the five integrated care boards in the East Midlands – covering Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland, Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire – have significant differences in fertility service policy.

Mrs Newby said: “It’s a real mess. Why it’s all so different in certain areas I don’t understand.

“You feel upset, angry and all the emotions. It’s such a sensitive subject because you want it so badly.

“Just because where you live, why should anyone have a better chance?”

These policy differences have led to “listening exercises” across the region, such as in Nottinghamshire, with ambitions to create a fairer policy for the East Midlands.

Mrs Newby will start treatment in January and although she said she and her husband Dave are trying not to put “too much pressure” on themselves, they are starting to wonder if the cycle fails. So what happens?

“It’s something we’ve already started talking about. What do we do if it doesn’t work?” he said.

“Do you keep going? How far would you go to get that baby you’ve always dreamed of?

“We hear of people who have completely bankrupted themselves trying to have a family.”

According to Dr James Hopkinson, medical director of the TFP Nurture Fertility Clinic across the border in Sandiaker, going the private treatment route can cost a couple up to around £9,000 per cycle.

“Unfortunately there has been a postcode lottery for some time in terms of IVF funding and fertility funding,” he told the BBC.

The private clinic is contracted by the NHS and around 40% of its cycles are funded by the NHS mostly for patients in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire.

Dr Hopkinson said differences in the quality of access across the region were causing unhappiness.

“Personally I think any decent civilized society should help people to have their families,” he said.

“And at a time when we’re seeing national and international birth rates decline, it becomes even more important that we help people have the families they want.”

But under a wide-ranging East Midlands proposal to standardize the policy, people wanting to start a family could be offered just one cycle of IVF on the NHS.

Dr Dave Briggs, medical director of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB, said 40 women with less than three cycles were offered IVF. NICE guidance should therefore be “taken together” with local area priorities.

“That doesn’t mean we don’t recognize the importance of IVF and fertility services but we have to make sure that they are provided within our financial means as well as many other services,” he said. He said.

Dr Briggs added that the “vast majority” of the region was only offered a cycle.

“This proposal is looking for a single policy across the East Midlands to ensure that it doesn’t matter if you live in the city center or out in Bassettla or in Newark – you get this important Access to the service is exactly the same, no matter where you live,” he said.

Residents can respond to the proposal by completing an online survey on the ICB website, attending online public meetings or sharing feedback over the phone.

The engagement period will last until January 10, 2025.