IN WHAT could be great news for hopeful Rose City parents, the first bulk-billing IVF clinic in Australia opened in Sydney last week, paving the way for more states to follow.

While details are sketchy on just what cheaper treatments the clinic offers hopeful parents who can't fall pregnant naturally, Warwick parents are supportive of a similar move happening in Queensland.

Helena Moore said it would be "a godsend for couples of very low income who would be desperate for a baby but go through life without due to the expensive costs".

With just one IVF cycle leaving couples thousands of dollars out of pocket after Medicare rebates, the costs add up, as it did for one Rose City couple.

"We were about $8000 out of pocket per cycle, not counting fertility drugs, anaesthetists and specialists, planning and management, scans, blood tests and everything," the Warwick mum said, whose beautiful daughter came after nearly $65,000 in expenses.

She said while she'd like to see better Medicare rebates for existing fertility clinics and patients, any bulk-billing clinic should be means tested.

"What worries me is if it's cheap every Tom, Dick and Harry will have it and think they can just go and get pregnant whenever they feel like it," she said.

"Instead of just giving it to everyone, give it to people who have been unsuccessful (for a long period of time) and people who have sold their house to pay for treatment.

"But it would be great to see a bulk billing clinic open in Queensland."

Federal Member for Maranoa Bruce Scott said Sydney's bulk billing clinic was a choice by the private practice - owned by Primary Health Care - to not add any additional fees to the standard IVF treatment, which made it theoretically cheaper.

"The opening of a bulk billing clinic for IVF is an encouraging sign that I'm sure would be welcomed by many couples struggling to get pregnant," Mr Scott said.

"(Infertility) has been a very private thing and I know for many couples it becomes a distressing part of their life.

"Having said that, what the Federal Government is res

ponsible for is setting up the Medicare standard item numbers for the services and it's then up to doctors to bulk bill or set a fee higher to cover their costs."

What do women really know about their own fertility?

Australia's leading fertility specialists are encouraging women to get the facts on fertility, after a national survey revealed more than half of respondents had misconceptions about the impact of age on a woman's fertility and chance of IVF success.

The study of 1000 Australian women of reproductive age commissioned by IVFAustralia, Melbourne IVF and Queensland Fertility Group, found 64% of respondents didn't know their fertility rapidly declines from the age of 36.

IVFAustralia senior fertility specialist Professor Michael Chapman said the results showed there was a critical information gap among women of reproductive age about how a woman's age and her egg quality directly affects her fertility and chance of IVF success.

"It's a serious misconception that women can delay motherhood until their late 30s and rely on IVF to easily resolve their problems and conceive in their 40s, and these survey results suggest that is exactly what many women may do based on their beliefs," he said.

"The reality is we can't improve the quality of a woman's eggs, and as a woman ages so do her eggs, and this impacts her chance of conceiving both spontaneously and with IVF."

Prof Chapman said delaying having children could make things more difficult later on.

"For example, at 30, a woman has a 20% chance of falling pregnant spontaneously per month, compared to less than 5% chance per month when she is in her 40s," he said. "Although IVF is very effective and may markedly improve a woman's chances of having a baby - it is no guarantee."

Knowing the risks

Other interesting findings of the survey included:

 One in five women incorrectly believed it only became difficult for a woman to fall pregnant naturally in her late 40s.

 While 80% knew a pregnant woman in her late 30s and early 40s had an increased risk of having a baby with chromosomal abnormalities, 42% did not know this age group also has an increased risk of miscarriage.

 74% knew that excessive alcohol consumption could also affect their fertility.

IVFAustralia has developed a YouTube clip to illustrate the effect of age and lifestyle factors on a woman's fertility.

The animation is part of a national fertility awareness campaign, Get the facts on fertility, in partnership with IVF Australia and Queensland Fertility Group aiming to update all Australian women about the key factors affecting their ability to conceive.

Visit http://www.youtube.com/ivfaustralia

What is IVF?

For many couples, In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) offers the best chance of achieving a pregnancy. The IVF process can be used to overcome a range of factors affecting fertility including: sperm antibodies, endometriosis, and the most common diagnosis, unexplained infertility.

During the IVF process, the sperm fertilises the eggs in the laboratory rather than inside the woman's fallopian tubes. This involves placing the egg from the female together with many thousands of sperm (typically 100,000).

Fertilisation then takes place in the culture dish in the lab.

Alternatively, if there is any concern about sperm quality, the process of fertilisation is carried out by Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) - this is where one sperm is inserted into each egg.

The fertilised embryos grow in the laboratory over two to five days, before being transferred into the woman's uterus in a simple procedure called the 'embryo transfer'. If more than one or two embryos develop, the additional embryos can be frozen for use in subsequent cycles as required.

For more info visit http://www.ivf.com.au/fertility