For more than three years, Ella Jurek documented the emotional rollercoaster of going through IVF on social media.
Key points:
- A researcher says there should be a re-think in how privately-owned fertility clinics are distributed across Australia
- He says that would help address some of the barriers regional couples face when trying to access fertility treatments
- A spokesperson from the private sector says the idea is 'ideological rather than practical'
Posting about the challenges of living seven hours away from major fertility services, she noticed more regional couples in similar positions were responding to her experience.
"There were people up the coast, people out on farms people out in Ceduna — a lot of people across the Eyre Peninsula — so a lot of couples it was affecting," Ms Jurek said.
Ms Jurek said living so far from the city meant forgoing more affordable options like intra-uterine insemination, a time-sensitive procedure where sperm is inserted into the uterus close to the time of ovulation.
"We just didn't have the flexibility [to] drop everything and fly to Adelaide as well as the expense of booking last minute flights," she said.
Ms Jurek, a nurse, said she was lucky to have knowledge about injections and medications but felt regional couples could benefit from face-to-face IVF support.
"They showed me via Zoom how to do all the treatments, but sometimes you get so overwhelmed," she said.
"You can ring the nurses, but it would be good to have someone more locally so you could just pop in and get some help with things."
Deakin University's Dr Christopher Mayes has published a study on the barriers regional couples face when trying to access assisted fertility treatments.
He said there should be a re-think in how privately owned fertility clinics are distributed across Australia.
"This is where the role of governments come in, to have decision-making not based purely on commercial incentives but where there may be need," Dr Mayes said.
"Addressing [a] historical lack of fertility services, so particularly in remote and Indigenous communities."
The academic said in Australia's "social imaginary" there was a sense that regional couples should be expected to travel.
"Whether it's for groceries or for fertility services," Dr Mayes said.
"I don't think it's cynical to say that at least the business side of these clinics know that couples will travel these distances."
But private sector spokesperson, Dr David Molloy from IVF Directors Group Australia, rejects the claim that there should be a re-think in service distribution.
"I think that's ideological rather than practical," Dr Molloy said.
"You need to have volume.
"If you don't have volume, you can't do proper quality assurance in your lab."
Dr Molloy said there was generally an adequate distribution in the eastern states for regional couples.
"No patient on the east coast of Australia between Cairns and the Victorian border has got to drive more than two hours for reproductive medical services," he said.
He said South Australia and Western Australia face more service distribution challenges.
"You've got really dominant capital cities and relatively small-scale settlements outside of the capital cities," he said.
"The problem is just one of having enough scale, and also the multiplicity of having people to provide the service."
Ms Jurek said after three-and-a-half years on IVF, she was fortunate to conceive twins naturally.
But she hopes couples in the future have a greater chance at accessing IVF services in regional centres like Port Lincoln.
"I do feel like women out here, we do miss out a lot compared to couples in metropolitan areas," she said.
"Just to take the stress out of it would be nice – to have that extra support."