NHS Medway, Kent, has joined several other trusts in
suspending funding for new referrals for IVF until the new financial
year when the decision will be reviewed.
The PCT
is making cuts in a number of sectors, including savings of over £5 million in
staffing by 2014. On top of this and other measures, new referrals for
bariatric surgery (morbid obesity), gender reassignment and IVF have all been
suspended. The PCT said it would consider providing IVF if a patient should
reach the age of 40 before 1 April 2011 or there exists another compelling reason
for treatment not to be delayed.
The PCT currently serves 280,000 people with a
budget of £441 million for 2010/11. Acting Chief Executive, Helen Buckingham, said demand for services and costs are increasing at
a rate of about four percent a year, in part due to Medway's growing population, but that NHS budgets will only increase by approximately 0.1 percent annually
for the next three years.
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