A new NHS pilot has begun to trial the effectiveness of home insemination kits
The free kits will be given to 20 patients in London and are being trialled as part of an exercise to explore other methods beyond IVF.
From August 2023, GPs in South Fulham Primary Care Trust will be able to refer patients seeking fertility treatment to Bea Fertility, providing free access to home intracervical insemination(ICI) kits.
The only treatment currently funded by the NHS is IVF and intrauterine insemination(IUI), but it depends on age, location, BMI and sexual orientation
Approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence(NICE), the method involves placing a small cap of semen at the cervix using an applicator.
According to the Guardian, the cap is left for up to an hour, when patients can go about their day as usual. Two weeks later, they need to take a pregnancy test to see if the process has been successful.
ICI has been shown to have a 50 per cent efficacy over six treatment cycles and was recently included in the NICE clinical guidelines, alongside IVF and IUI.
Sharon Martin of Fertility Network UK welcomed the news
She said: “We would only recommend treatments through randomised control trials and have been shown to improve a person’s chances of having a baby.
“As Bea Fertility is an applicator that places the sperm in the vagina close to the cervix, it replaces sexual intercourse. We will await with interest the outcome of the trial.”
Sharon went on to stress that ICI and IUI were separate treatments, and the charity would not advocate any delays in referrals for IVF.
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