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CCG FOI 642a – IVF

Responded to: 22nd August 2016

1.     According to your current IVF treatment policy:

a.     How many cycles of IVF do you offer to eligible patients?

b.     Do you fund a full cycle of IVF, as defined by NICE, which includes replacement of all frozen embryos? If not how many frozen embryo transfers do you fund?

c.      What is your upper and lower age limit that female patients must meet in order to qualify for treatment?

d.     Do you fund one full cycle of IVF for women aged 40-42 in line with the NICE guidance?

e.     Do you have an age criteria that male patients must meet in order to qualify for treatment? If so, please state what the criteria is.

f.      What must the smoking status of patients be?

g.     What weight requirement exists (i.e. BMI)?

h.     How long do couples need to be trying to conceive before becoming eligible for treatment?

i.       Is there a minimum period that the couple need to have been in a relationship before becoming eligible for treatment?

j.       What eligibility criteria do you apply in relation to existing children that either one or both partners may have?

k.     What policy is in place (if any) for the use of Single Embryo Transfer?

l.       Do you fund fertility treatment for same sex couples, and if so what eligibility criteria do they have to fulfill?

m.   Do you fund fertility preservation for cancer patients and if so what budget is the funding taken from?

All information requested in Question 1 is available on NHS Stockport CCG website https://www.stockportccg.nhs.uk/about-us/treatment-available-on-the-nhs/

or within the following document:  http://northwestcsu.nhs.uk/BrickwallResource/GetResource/b33912ee-d991-42f1-aa72-98103fd663f6

2. What is the average cost of a cycle of an IVF cycle funded by the CCG and what does that include?  £3,900

This includes:

  1. Consultation
  2. Ultrasound scan
  3. Semen tests
  4. Blood screening – both partners (mandatory)
  5. Drugs for IVF
  6. Injection teach session
  7. Monitoring throughout cycle and post treatment scans x 2, if pregnant.
  8. Admission to private room (en suite) as day case.
  9. Egg collection – general anaesthetic or conscious sedation as appropriate.
  10. Extended culture
  11. Freezing and storage (up to 3 years) of any unused embryos.
  12. Frozen embryo transfer – up to three cycles.
  13. Counselling x 3 sessions.
  14. Review consultation – if not pregnant

3. What providers does the CCG contract with to provide IVF services?     Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Care Fertility

4. When was the current assisted conception policy developed? May 2013   And who was consulted? The public and local clinicians were consulted

5. When will the CCG review its assisted conception policy? Both NHS Stockport CCG ‘s local policy and Greater Manchester Assisted Conception Policy are currently under review.

6. Is the assisted conception policy available on the CCG’s website? If so please provide a link to the policy. Yes https://www.stockportccg.nhs.uk/about-us/treatment-available-on-the-nhs/

7. Please could you provide me with a copy of your assisted conception policy? http://northwestcsu.nhs.uk/BrickwallResource/GetResource/b33912ee-d991-42f1-aa72-98103fd663f6

8. Which MPs cover the boundaries of the CCG? Ann Coffey, Andrew Gywnne, Mary Robinson,William Wragg

9. Has the CCG conducted any financial modelling on the cost implications of funding three full cycles of IVF?  Yes

10.   If the CCG does not follow the NICE guideline, have they published the reasons why they do not follow the guideline? If so, what are the reasons for not complying with the NICE guideline?

NHS Stockport CCG funds investigations and treatment for subfertility as set out in the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) clinical guideline.

11.   In the last 12 months, or at the time of the last consultation on the IVF policy, has the CCG considered collaborating with other CCGs on the fertility policy?  NHS Stockport CCG has and continues to consider the potential benefits and costs of collaborating with other CCGs on fertility policy

12.  In the last 12 months, how many patients have applied for fertility funding (both successfully and unsuccessfully) through an Individual Funding Request? During 2015-16,  47 requests were received. 13 were approved. 21 were declined. The rest were closed either because the referral should not have been submitted as an Individual Funding Request (IFR) or because further information was requested and this was never received.

13.  In the last 12 months, how many women aged between 40-42 has the CCG funded IVF treatment for? What does the CCG estimate this to have cost?  EUR does not hold data on how many patients in this age group were actually treated

14. What advice has the CCG sought concerning the most cost and clinically efficient methods of setting up their tertiary infertility services?

Where was this advice sought from?

NHS Stockport CCG’s policy has been developed from guidance issued by the Department of Health, Infertility Network UK and the revised NICE guidance (CG 156). The CCG  continues to consult with its members, link with other CCGs and gain feedback from service users.

When was this advice sought?

The documentation in support of the policy was sought in May 2013. Links with other CCGs, members, service users and review of new guidance is a continuous process.

15. I would also like to request permission to re-publish the data provided in a publically accessible document/web-format..

The information requested by you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your own purposes including any non-commercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder. Most documents supplied by NHS Stockport will have been produced by government officials and will be Crown Copyright