IVF patient fears Catholic takeover will affect quest to become a mum

Hayley Denniss always wanted to start a family, but being single and living with three chronic health conditions has not made the process easy.On October 29, about four years after she began her "gruelling" IVF journey, Ms Denniss went through her third egg collection at Newcastle Private Hospital.Moments before she was due to be anaesthetised for the procedure, she was told the future of IVF services at the hospital was in doubt."The nurse said to me, 'I'm not sure what you're going to do after this, because Calvary don't believe in IVF,'" Ms Denniss said."Then I'm being wheeled into a theatre and have to wait until I wake up to process that."Catholic provider Calvary Health Care is hoping to take over 14 hospitals across the country by the end of the month, after embattled provider Healthscope went into receivership last year.Six of those are in NSW, including the Newcastle and Hunter Valley private hospitals.Calvary follows a Catholic code of ethics and has confirmed it will not allow IVF collections, elective abortions, voluntary assisted dying or gender reassignment procedures at any hospital it acquires.Hayley Denniss says she has been feeling optimistic about her latest procedure, but the uncertainty is taking a toll. (Supplied: Hayley Deniss)Ms Denniss said her latest retrieval was one of the most successful yet, but the uncertainty about future collections and continuity of care has left her feeling uneasy."It's kind of hit me for six," she said."I'm having this elevated happiness … but then I'm like, 'Do I get to finish off that success?'"The uncertainty is disheartening."Provider vows to maintain serviceHunter IVF operates adjacent to Newcastle Private and uses the hospital's operating theatres to complete egg collections and carry out surgical sperm procedures.The service, which has been in operation for more than 20 years, has told its clients the business is here to stay."We're working really hard with alternate providers at the moment to ensure that there's no interruption to care," Hunter IVF doctor and fertility specialist Veronica Knight said.Veronica Knight says the service is working through logistical challenges. (ABC Newcastle: Shauna Foley)Calvary has no ownership over Hunter IVF's embryo lab or clinic, but questions remain about where surgical procedures would take place."Egg collection procedures and embryo transfers are all very time-sensitive," Dr Knight said."Ideally those all need to happen on one site so the clinicians can move between those activities quickly."Hunter IVF said it had its first one-on-one consultation with Calvary Health Care about the changes on October 30, a little more than a month out from the proposed sale date."These discussions were held very late, with not a great deal of notice for us to reallocate a lot of the logistics of our care," Dr Knight said.The sale of the two hospitals is still subject to the transfer of a licence, granted by the NSW government, as well as a determination from the Australian competition watchdog.Hundreds gathered at Newcastle's Civic Park on Sunday to protest against the changes. (ABC Newcastle: Ben Clifford)The pending sale has sparked concerns about access to women's and community healthcare in regional NSW, where some patients travel for hours to receive specialised care in Newcastle.On Sunday, hundreds of people rallied against the sale in Newcastle.Ms Denniss said the decision not to offer IVF services for religious reasons was unfair to women who faced barriers to natural conception."We are not trying to play God," she said."We just want to have the same opportunity to start a family like everyone else."NSW Health to 'fill the gap'NSW Health Minister Ryan Park has vowed to work with other providers to ensure access to services continues across the region."We'll have a look at the volume of people utilising those services, then we will work out what capacity we have as a system and then work out what others may do," he said.The minister said the intervention of the state in private hospital sales could put more community health services at risk."That includes cardiac services, anaesthesia, general surgery … a range of different services that we certainly don't want to see taken out of the community," he said."We've got to get the balance right."Calvary Health Care declined multiple requests for an interview, but said in a statement that the acquisitions would provide greater stability for the hospitals, their employees and the community.It said discussions with local clinicians were ongoing.