Freedom of Information request FOI On behalf of NHS Southampton City Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) IVF

Transcription

1 Freedom of Information request FOI On behalf of NHS Southampton City Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) IVF 1. According to your current IVF treatment policy: a. How many cycles of IVF do you offer to eligible patients? I can confirm that NHS Southampton City CCG holds this information. The information is exempt under Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), because the information is accessible to you, as it is already in the public domain and is available on our website: 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 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)? Southampton City Clinical Commissioning Group NHS Southampton HQ Oakley Road Millbrook Southampton SO16 4GX NHS Southampton Headquarters, Oakley Road, Southampton, SO16 4GX Telephone: Fax: Website:

2 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? 2. What is the average cost of a cycle of an IVF cycle funded by the CCG and what does that include? The average cost is 3,300 for a 'basic' IVF cycle but there are additional costs related to Intra- Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI), surgical sperm retrieval and sperm/egg donation 3. What providers does the CCG contract with to provide IVF services? The Chiltern Hospital, London Road, Great Missenden, Bucks HP16 9DT Care Fertility, 67 The Avenue, Northampton, NN1 5BT Nuffield Health Woking Hospital, Shores Road, Woking, Surrey, GU21 4BY Oxford Fertility Unit, Institute of Reproductive Sciences, Oxford Business Park, Oxford OX4 Complete Fertility Centre, Level G, Mailpoint 105, Princess Anne Hospital, Coxford Road, Southampton, SO16 5YA Salisbury Fertility Centre, Salisbury District Hospital, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP2 8BJ Wessex Fertility, The Freya Centre, Anglesea Road, Southampton S015 5QS 4. When was the current assisted conception policy developed? And who was consulted?

3 The policy was developed over 10 years ago and has been reviewed twice in Feb 2013 and in Sept 2014 by the Priorities Committee. It was also subject to a Hampshire-wide consultation following a policy recommendation issued late last year and, with the consultation results in hand, further endorsed by CCGs early this year 5. When will the CCG review its assisted conception policy? Given the recent review there are no plans to review policy in the near future 6. Is the assisted conception policy available on the CCG s website? If so please provide a link to the policy. 7. Please could you provide me with a copy of your assisted conception policy? 8. Which MPs cover the boundaries of the CCG? Alan Whitehead MP Royston Smith MP Caroline Nokes MP 9. Has the CCG conducted any financial modelling on the cost implications of funding three full cycles of IVF? Yes, see Priorities Committee review which studied clinical and cost effectiveness as well as cost modelling. 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? The reasons are purely based on the evidence clinical and cost effectiveness which falls beyond a certain age and represents less value for money for the NHS and ultimately for public funds. Commissioners are not mandated to follow NICE Clinical Guidelines but are mandated to maintain financial balance - to follow NICE guidelines to the letter could arguably be an inappropriate use of public funds given the resources available. 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? Yes, the policy was considered and reviewed in collaboration with all CCGs in Hampshire and Isle of Wight. 12. In the last 12 months, how many patients have applied for fertility funding (both successfully and unsuccessfully) through an Individual Funding Request? Not including 'standard' IVF referrals, using whole year figures, 10 applications have been received for NHS Southampton City CCG.

4 NHS Southampton City CCG is unable to provide the numbers of applications which have been successful and unsuccessful as this information is exempt under section 40 (personal information) of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), as the information constitutes third party data. Section 40(2) provides that personal data about third parties is exempt information if one of the conditions set out in section 40(3) is satisfied. Under the FOI Act disclosure of this information would breach the fair processing principle contained in the Data Protection Act (DPA), where it would be unfair to that person/is confidential. 13. In the last 12 months, how many women aged between has the CCG funded IVF treatment for? What does the CCG estimate this to have cost? NHS Southampton City CCG has not funded any IVF for women over I would also like to request permission to re-publish the data provided in a publically accessible document/web-format. NHS Southampton City CCG permits you to re-publish the data provided in the request under the Open Government License. You are therefore able to use this information in any way and for any purpose. We simply ask that you acknowledge the copyright and the source of the data by including the following attribution statement: Contains NHS Southampton City CCG data Crown copyright (year) You must also: include the same acknowledgement requirement in any sub-licences of the data that you grant, and a requirement that any further sub-licences do the same; ensure that you do not use the data in a way that suggests NHS Southampton City CCG endorses you or your use of the data; and Make sure you do not misrepresent the data or its source. The information supplied to you continues to be protected by copyright. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including for private study and non-commercial research, and for any other purpose authorised by an exception in current copyright law. Documents (except photographs) can also be used in the UK without requiring permission for the purposes of news reporting. Any other reuse, for example, commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder. If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original enquiry and should be addressed to: Associate Director of Quality, NHS Southampton City Trust Headquarters, Oakley Road, Southampton, Hampshire SO16 4GX If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the Information Commissioner's Office cannot make a decision unless you have already exhausted NHS South Commissioning Support Unit's internal review procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Wycliffe Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK6 5AF. Further information about the Freedom of Information Act can be sourced on the Information Commissioner's website:

5 If you have any queries about this , please contact me. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications. Yours sincerely, Freedom of Information Manager