NHS funding IVF for single women as couples are denied

Five London health authorities offer IVF treatment to single women while couples in some areas are being forced to pay for private treatment.

Richmond and Twickenham, Wandsworth, Sutton and Merton, Croydon, and Kingston confirmed they provide cycles of IVF to women who are not in a relationship. MP Frank Field said it was "clearly wrong" that while couples in stable relationships could not get IVF, single women could.

Doctors are not required to consider a child's need to have a male role model but official guidance implies that support should go to couples who have been trying to have a baby for several years.

An investigation by the Daily Telegraph found that 24 of the 135 Primary Care Trusts in England offered IVF to single women. In July Elizabeth Pearce, 39, of Canterbury claimed she was the first lone parent to have given birth thanks to IVF funded by the NHS.

She said: "I know this is a sensitive issue but I truly believe single women have just as much of a right to a child as couples do." The vast majority of single women are thought to pay for treatment privately at £5,000 a cycle.