Public IVF service to open in Bendigo

A VISIT from Premier Jacinta Allan and Member for Bendigo West, Maree Edwards, marked the official opening of a public in vitro fertilisation, or IVF, service at Bendigo Health.

Supported by the Royal Women’s Hospital the service will operate as a satellite centre, providing IVF and fertility health care to patients in Bendigo and surrounding areas.

The service is located within Bendigo Health’s existing women’s healthcare department and Ms Allan praised the care already provided to local women at the centre.

“The addition of the public IVF services is just another add-on, another way that we’re making sure that women in regional communities can get the health care they need closer to where they live,” Ms Allan said.

Bendigo’s service is one of several to be opened in Victoria following the State Government’s $120 million spend to make fertility services accessible through the public health system.

Dr Nicola Yuen, clinical director of women’s and children’s services at Bendigo Health, said she was delighted the hospital could provide fertility care through the partnership with the Royal Women’s Hospital.

“We all know that fertility journeys are really difficult and really challenging for people to go on and incredibly stressful and previously having to travel to Melbourne for those service was a big stress for regional women,” she said.

The service is expected to receive up to 150 patients within the first year and provide women with most aspects of fertility care including blood tests, scans and ultrasounds, and medications.

“We’re also providing a lot of service around reproductive health with termination of pregnancy services and making sure that women have full access to all of those reproductive needs that they have,” Dr Yuen said.

Patients will need to travel to the Royal Women’s Hospital for some specialised procedures such as embryo transfers, but Dr Yuen said that was to ensure patients received the best quality care available.

“Something we’ve been working on for long time is providing fertility care through Bendigo and this is an awesome partnership to allow us to do this,” she said.

The centre is set to receive the first referrals from the Royal Women’s Hospital in November