Public fertility care Victoria

Public fertility care is now available to Victorians who want to start or grow their families.

Fertility treatments such as in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) can help Victorians who want to become parents, but too often and for too many, it is financially out of reach or difficult to access.

Public fertility care aims to make it easier and fairer for more Victorians to access these services, particularly:

• low-income earners
• Victorians living in rural and regional areas
• people who need donor services or altruistic surrogacy support, such as LGBTIQA+ and single people
• people who need fertility preservation due to medical treatment, such as people with cancer and people undergoing gender reassignment treatment
• people who need genetic testing because they are known carriers of medical conditions that may pose a threat to the life of their child.

Services

Once fully operational, public fertility care is expected to benefit up to 5,000 people a year and will deliver a savings of up to $10,000 to eligible Victorians.

The Royal Women's Hospital is partnering health services across the state to provide public fertility care to eligible Victorians. Services include:

• intrauterine insemination, IVF and intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatment cycles
• less invasive, fertility treatments prior to IVF or ICSI treatment
• pre-treatment testing, counselling and fertility information
• donor services, supported by the establishment of Australia’s first public egg and sperm bank
• altruistic surrogacy support
• fertility preservation where medical treatment may compromise fertility, including cancer treatment and gender reassignment treatment
• genetic testing for people who are known carriers of serious medical conditions.

Partner health services across the state are also providing Victorians with a range of fertility care services closer to home (such as fertility consultations, diagnostic tests, and ultrasounds). The exact range of services available will differ between sites and patients are supported by telehealth where appropriate.

To find out what services are available near you, visit the provider website:

• Royal Women's Hospital
• Monash Health
• Mercy Health
• Northern Health – Epping Hospital
• Mildura Base Public Hospital
• Bendigo Health
• South West Healthcare – Warrnambool
• Barwon Health – Geelong
• Goulburn Valley Health – Shepparton
• Grampians Health – Ballarat
• Western Health – Sunshine.

Australia's first public egg and sperm bank has also been established at the Royal Women’s Hospital as an extension of public fertility care.

Cost

The cost of the public hospital services provided will be free for most people.

Some patients may have out-of-pocket costs for medication, diagnostics and/or specialised tests.

Eligibility

People who meet the eligibility criteria will be referred to a suitable public fertility care provider depending on their needs.

To be eligible for public fertility care, you must:

• be a current resident in Victoria
• hold a Medicare card
• have a referral from a GP or specialist.

The clinical access criteria are as follows:

• Eggs to be fertilised must be 42 years old or younger at the time of treatment. Research evidence shows the chances of a successful outcome significantly decreases with increasing age.
• There is a maximum of 2 treatment cycles per person per lifetime. This is to ensure Victorians experiencing infertility have a fair chance of creating a family through the public service.

The clinical criteria are designed to provide Victorians with fair and equitable access to public fertility care. They are based on research and clinical best practice.

How to access

If you are interested in public fertility care, speak to your GP or another relevant specialist.

If you meet the eligibility and clinical criteria, you will be placed on a waiting list for an initial appointment with a fertility specialist at one of the participating health services.

Waiting lists are actively managed, and participating health services will provide you with information about expected timeframes based on your circumstances.

You can also speak to your GP or specialist about accessing fertility care services through a private provider.

Public egg and sperm bank

Australia’s first public egg and sperm bank has opened at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Parkville. The bank is an extension of Victoria's public fertility care service and is currently accepting egg, sperm and embryo donations from the Victorian community.

Learn more about becoming an egg, sperm or embryo donor.

The bank aims to increase access to eggs, sperm and embryos for Victorians who are receiving public fertility care and require donor services.

If you are seeking access to donor eggs, sperm and embryos through the bank, you will first need to be referred to public fertility care.

Find out more about the Victorian public egg and sperm bank and becoming a donor on the Royal Women's Hospital website.