Young women are being denied test tube baby treatment until their late thirties under NHS rationing plans, even though age sharply reduces their chances of conceiving a child.
The move means even couples diagnosed early with fertility problems are being told to wait years before they can have IVF. A 39-year-old's chances of conceiving through the treatment are only half those of a woman under 35.
While cash-strapped health authorities have long restricted treatment for older women on the grounds that over-forties have little practical chance of success they have not previously set lower age limits in the same way.
The moves to introduce lower age limits was revealed after MPs raised the issue in the Commons last week.
Women in Thames Valley must be at least 36 to get IVF, while North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust has suspended provision of fertility treatment except for cases 'where the female partner is nearing 40' - the age over which the authority will not fund treatment. Dari Taylor, chair of the all-party Commons infertility group, who herself adopted children after struggling to get treatment, has uncovered other examples nationwide with a lower age limit of 34 or 36.
Sandra Gidley, the Liberal Democrat MP for Romsey who raised the issue in the Commons, said she had heard of other cases of women turned down as too young for treatment. 'People are kept waiting until they are 39 almost, and your chances do reduce then. It seems perverse to be delivering it at an age where it's less likely to work,' she told The Observer
'The reasons put forward are that there are other options open to these younger women - like adoption, but that's not the same - or that they have got more time when maybe something, somehow will happen [naturally]. But this can be very stressful and impact on relationships.'
Three years ago, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, which recommends the treatments that are clinically and financially worthwhile, ruled that infertile women aged 23-39 should have three free cycles of IVF on the NHS. The then Health Secretary John Reid responded by promising only one free cycle for all - but with no spare money to fund it, trusts responded by inventing new restrictions on eligibility. Couples can still buy treatment privately but just one cycle can cost up to £5,000.
Minutes of board meetings held by the Thames Valley Strategic Health Authority show it estimated in 2004 that giving all potentially eligible couples in its area one cycle would more than double its IVF budget. Last month Thames Valley merged into the South Central Strategic Health Authority, which failed to return The Observer's calls.
A spokesman for North Yorkshire and York PCT said GPs could forward cases of younger women needing IVF to an 'exceptions panel' to consider any special reason to exempt them from the general rule of no treatment, adding: 'The PCT has implemented the current guidelines because of the financial challenges it currently faces.'
A Department of Health spokeswoman said it was aware of 'local variations' in treatment but said: 'Primary responsibility for implementing Nice guidelines, including the rate of implementation, rests with the NHS at local level.' She added it was funding a new project with the charity Infertility Network UK to ensure patients were listened to during decisions about service provision.
