Government funded IVF

WQ.3/2026

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES BY DEPUTY L.K.F. STEPHENSON OF ST. MARY, ST. OUEN AND ST. PETER QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 19th JANUARY 2026

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 26th JANUARY 2026

Question

"Further to the introduction on 1st October 2025 of revised access criteria for Government funded In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF), will the Minister provide an update on the number of –

1. Islanders who have been provided IVF treatment under the new criteria, including the number of IVF cycles administered to each person and details of the clinics used;
2. positive pregnancy tests resulting from those IVF treatment cycles;
3. Islanders seen by the Assisted Reproduction Unit for IVF treatment since 1st October 2025 who did not qualify for funded treatment, with a breakdown of the reasons for their non-qualification;

and will the Minister also provide the total expenditure on Government funded IVF cycles for 2025, broken down by month, together with any underspend or overspend for the year and, where relevant, plans for any underspent funds?"

Answer

Due to the small number of patients involved and the requirement to protect against potential identification of patients and associated treatment outcomes, the Minister is unable to answer (a) or (b) other than confirm that the answer to (a) is less than 5 couples.

With regard to (c) 12 patients were seen by the Assisted Reproduction Unit (1 October to 31 December 2025) who did not qualify for funded treatment. Reasons for non-eligibility under current IVF criteria include:

• 9 patients already had a child with their current partner (as opposed to a child from a previous relationship)

• less than 5 patients had previously self-funded at least 3 IVF cycles OR did not meet the health criteria (as above a more detailed breakdown is not provided in protect personal data).

Total expenditure broken down by month:

**Lister Clinic does not bill monthly. The Lister October bill included IVF provided in previous months.

*** Due to clinics in the UK being closed over the Christmas period, no patients are referred through the ARU from mid-December (ie. December is 2 weeks data only)

In accordance with standard Treasury processes, underspends are not carried over into the following year (subject to occasional exceptions for major projects). The IVF 2025 underspend was reabsorbed by the Treasury to compensate for Health and Care Jersey overspend in other areas. This is standard process.

In 2026 HCJ has received the full £620,000 IVF funding allocation. Work is underway to review the criteria with a view to implementing further amendments before end Q1 2026.