2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 (year to 30 November 2009).

6. Can a woman access the PATS if they have previously utilised the Patient Assisted Travel Scheme for:

(a) Successful IVF treatments leading to the birth of a single child or multiple birth, if not, why not; and

(b) Unsuccessful IVF treatments, if not, why not.
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1. What is the current policy in regard to women utilising the Patient Assisted Travel Scheme in order to undertake IVF treatment.

Patient Assistance Travel Scheme (PATS) assists Northern Territory residents to access a range of essential specialist medical/surgical services where these services are not available locally or from a visiting service.

PATS provides assistance with travel and where applicable, accommodation costs to residents of the Northern Territory who are required to travel more than 200kms to the nearest specialist medical treatment. However, PATS is a contribution scheme and is not intended to cover all travel and accommodation costs.

In 2003, a special ruling regarding eligibility for IVF treatment

The ruling is as follows (extracted from Patient Assistance Travel Scheme (PATS) Guidelines revised June 2008 Version 1)

Patients Receiving IVF treatment and other assisted reproductive treatments are eligible for assistance subject to the following criteria:

There is no automatic entitlement for the partner to travel as an escort and guidelines for escort travel must apply. The partner will only be approved when it is a requirement for the program. The partner may qualify when he visits the specialist for his initial consult and investigation (as a patient), and for one visit per cycle of treatment (as a patient).

Intrastate.

Approval will be given for intrastate travel for all IVF treatment and other assisted reproductive treatment.

Interstate.

The maximum entitlement per patient and partner is three interstate trips per year for the purpose of “pre implantation genetic diagnosis” only.

April 2003

It has not been possible to locate prior policies.

The formal policy with regards current patient eligibility for IVF under PATS can be found in section 5.3 of the PATS Guidelines (See PATS Guidelines 5.3see attachment)

2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 (year to 30 November 2009)

Data for 2005/06 was not able to be extracted and data for 2009/10 has not been calculated at this point in time. Available data is reported below.



Year	Royal Darwin Hospital	Alice Springs Hospital	Gove Hospital	Tennant Creek Hospital	Katherine Hospital
2006/07	6	14	12	2	7
2007/08	12	20	2	3	2
2008/09	5	23	10	2	8

The current ruling is that once a live birth has been achieved, eligibility for PATS for further IVF treatment ceases.

The current ruling is that providing the female partner is below the upper age limit set at 43 years of age, approval will be given for intrastate travel for all IVF treatment and other assisted reproductive treatment until a live birth is achieved, and interstate travel to a maximum entitlement per patient an partner for three trips per year for the purpose of “pre implantation genetic diagnosis” only.