Fertility clinic wait times in Portsmouth higher than average, according to new data

In a league table of accessibility to fertility services, Portsmouth scored joint 21st with Chelmsford and Halifax on GP referral times, with patients having to wait on average 46 weeks from being referred by their GP to receiving fertility treatment, whereas people in Northampton were waiting 21 weeks on average.

The average wait time in England is 40 weeks.

The study, carried out by My Expert Midwife, was based on data collected from 550 NHS fertility clinics, analysing GP referral times, patient ratings, number of clinics per person, and waiting times for egg and sperm donors.

Lesley Gilchrist, registered midwife and co-founder of My Expert Midwife, said: ‘This data shows that there is a real disparity in the provision of fertility services across the UK with a huge difference in the waiting times and the number of clinics per population across the UK.’