Fertility patients' views sought by Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board

Patients who have accessed or are accessing fertility treatment in mid and south Essex are being invited to take part in a pre-consultation engagement by the Integrated Care Board (ICB) now responsible for commissioning in the area.

The Mid and South Essex ICB took over from the five Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) which were previously responsible for commissioning health services in the region on 1 July 2022, at the same time ICBs replaced CCGs across the NHS in England. Access to some NHS services currently varies across the region as different CCGs had implemented different policies (see BioNews 1032, 773, 764 and 608)

The new ICB wrote it wanted to speak to patients who have previously accessed, or are currently accessing, fertility treatment as well as some other services including bariatric surgery, cosmetic breast surgery, vasectomy and sterilisation as part of a review of NHS services. It wrote on its website: 'We are reviewing these services to make them equal across mid and south Essex. This is called "service harmonisation".'

Patients can feedback via the ICB's online form.