Luton CCG

 Fertility Services Commissioning Policy

This policy outlines entitlement to NHS funded specialist fertility services for couples who do not have a living child from their current or any previous relationships, regardless of whether the child resides with them. This includes any adopted child within their current or previous relationships.

As of 2 June 2016, the policy attached replaces all previous versions. Any patients referred prior to the start date of the new IVF contract will be subject to the eligibility and treatment criteria prevailing at that time. Any patients referred after the commencement of the new Consortium contract will be subject to the revised criteria.

NICE clinical guidance on Fertility was updated in February 2013, Fertility CG156 updates and replaces NICE clinical guideline 11 published in 2004. The new guidelines recommend specialist fertility treatments to certain sections of the population for whom it was not previously recommended.

Luton CCG wishes to commission services and interventions which are evidence-based in order to achieve the best outcomes for patients and ensure that all patients receive the best possible quality of care.

Some treatments cannot be justified as there is little evidence to say they improve health, or the benefit measured against the possible risk to patients is not strong. This means that on occasion we may have to make some hard choices between funding something of possible benefit for one patient or funding something of proven benefit for many.

This is why doctors and other health professionals have produced a list of treatments which the NHS won’t provide, and others which will only be done in certain circumstances. The policy documents can be found below.

An IFR is a request received from a provider, or a patient with explicit support from a clinician, which seeks funding for a single identified patient for a specific treatment that is not covered by existing Commissioning Authority policy. A panel will consider IFR requests, aiming to both promote fairness and ensure effective use of resources.

Luton CCG has a responsibility to get the best value from the money it receives from the Government for healthcare. While demand for healthcare continues to grow, there is only a set amount of money available to spend, so difficult decisions may have to be made.

The priority is paying for those medicines and treatments that are proven to work well, can demonstrate that they improve peoples’ health and offer good value for money. Luton CCG recognises that some surgical procedures offer less benefit to patients than others and that some procedures are more effective depending on certain circumstances and patient criteria.

Policy development is an on-going process resulting from the publication of new evidence regarding clinical effectiveness. New policies or reviews on existing policies will be published on the LCCG website.

The CCG is required to complete a DPIA before we begin any type of processing which is “likely to result in high risk”.

This checklist is to be used by the Head of Information Governance to ensure compliance with the General Data Protection Regulations 2018 (GDPR) of new processes, software and hardware involving the processing of person identifiable data (PID).

All processes, electronic or manual, software or hardware incorporating the processing of PID must be tested for GDPR/confidentiality compliance prior to implementation/commencement and approved by the IM&T Group/Governance and Risk Group. The Head of Information Governance will periodically carry out data protection compliance checks on existing processes and a report will be made to the appropriate Director and the IM&T Group detailing findings and recommendations if compliance is not met.

A copy of the PIA template is available to download below.