Experts exploring whether single women could get IVF on NHS

Work is under way to explore whether single women could receive IVF for free on the NHS, the BBC has learned.

Currently only couples who meet certain criteria are eligible.

However there is demand among single people, including Daniela Scott who paid £43,000 on private fertility treatment in Scotland and Spain.

The Edinburgh restaurateur, who cannot conceive naturally, had three unsuccessful rounds of IVF before becoming pregnant with her son, Leone - who was born in March.

"I'm very fortunate that I own my house because I was able to take equity out of my home to pay for it," the 39-year-old said.

"They [the NHS] won't even look at me because I'm single."

Daniela had her first round of IVF at a private clinic in Glasgow spending around £10,000. The process produced four embryos but was ultimately unsuccessful.

She tried twice more spending a further £20,000, again unsuccessfully.

"I couldn't bear it," she said. "I didn't want to spend Christmas with anybody and I'm a very upbeat, confident, 'let's do it' type of girl but I was broken after the third round.

"I thought 'What am I going to do? I have £10,000 left, I'm devastated, what if it doesn't work":[]}