NHS trusts criticised over porn in IVF clinics

The think tank 2020health.org said the use of porn to help men produce sperm samples promoted "adultery of the mind".

It surveyed 93 NHS trusts that provide fertility services, of which 33 offer pornography in their IVF clinics.

Fifteen trusts got the material free of charge, as donations from patients or publishers, while 18 paid for material, which included DVDs and magazines.

These 18 trusts spent up to 100 each a year on porn, with the average spend on magazines being 21.32 per trust per year and a similar amount for DVDs.

All trusts used magazines and six clinics provided DVDs. Fifteen trusts purchased material from newsagents.

The cost of DVD equipment was generally not reported. However, one trust – the Royal Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust – spent 7,350 on a media suite for its clinic for the viewing of pornography, the study said.

The think tank estimated the NHS spends 700 a year on porn, excluding the cost of viewing equipment.

Its director, Julia Manning, the report's author, said two-thirds of NHS trusts surveyed did not supply porn, showing there was no genuine need for it.

"We know of no government authorisation that sanctioned this, or any exception to any NHS trust's employment terms that allow staff to have pornographic material at work.

"Pornography deprives women of full human status and reduces them to sex objects.

"It gives permission to its consumers to treat women as they are treated in porn.

"And the reality of porn today is that it increasingly uses younger girls and is more violent and extreme.

"A total of 77 per cent of the NHS workforce is female and they should never have to work in an environment that endorses pornography."