This petition was submitted during the 2019-2024 parliament
Rejected petition Increase criteria for NHS IVF funding from a BMI of 25 to a realistic BMI of 35
Consider fairer more realistic BMI requirements for NHS funded IVF.
Increase the BMI requirements from 25 to 35.
For private ivf it is safe for someone with a bmi of 40 to have treatment but it is not always affordable.
More details
A lot of women struggle with fertility. One common cause is PCOS. As it currently stands in the UK you need a BMI of 25 or less for atleast 6 months. For someone with PCOS this is pretty impossible as it is a constant battle to lose weight. Doctors tell individuals to lose weight and they'd consider putting them forward for IVF. However, they know full well that it's not practical, it's unrealistic and going to be a constant battle with very little chance of success.
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
There’s already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue.
You are more likely to get action on this issue if you sign and share a single petition.
We can only accept petitions about things the Government or Parliament are directly responsible for. Decisions about when the NHS offer fertility treatment are a matter for individual clinicians and NHS integrated care boards, not the UK Government or Parliament.
We have published the following petition, which you might like to sign:
Review criteria on offering NHS fertility treatment to those with high BMI: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/643484
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.