The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) has published a summary of publicly-funded services for fertility preservation for medical reasons in selected countries.
This report was requested by the Department of Health to support the development of a national fertility preservation policy for Ireland.
Fertility preservation is the cryopreservation, or freezing, of eggs, sperm, embryos or reproductive tissue, so that a person can use them to have biological children in the future.
Medical reasons for using fertility preservation services include having a medical condition or receiving medical treatment which impacts fertility.
Hiqa reviewed documents related to publicly-funded fertility preservation services in 10 countries: Australia, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Scotland, Sweden and Wales.
For each country, the review describes which fertility preservation services are publicly funded, who is eligible for these services, and further considerations for services — for example, governance, information provision and ethics.
The review found:
- freezing of sperm and eggs is publicly funded in all 10 selected countries, and freezing of embryos is publicly funded in seven of the selected countries;
- people undergoing cancer treatment are offered fertility preservation in all the selected countries;
-publicly-funded freezing of sperm and eggs is typically offered to adults and adolescents who are post puberty;
-freezing of ovarian tissue and testicular tissue is less often publicly funded, and may be offered to particular groups of people;
-Public funding to store frozen cells or tissues lasts for varying amounts of time in the selected countries;
-Storage costs may be covered for a limited amount of time at first, but can be extended for longer, if required.
In Denmark, England, France and Scotland, people who want to use their stored sperm or eggs to help them have children later need to meet separate criteria to access publicly-funded fertility treatment.
Michelle O’Neill, Hiqa’s deputy director of health technology assessment, said: “Fertility preservation enables people to save or protect eggs, sperm, embryos or reproductive tissue, so that they can use them to have biological children in the future.
"This review provides insights into what publicly-funded fertility preservation services in other countries provide, who is eligible, and any considerations around how these services are delivered.”
