Plans outlined in the Women's Health Strategy for new fertility treatment guidelines have led to Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board (ICB) delaying plans to align eligibility criteria for fertility treatment across area.
The newly formed ICB, which is responsible for commissioning NHS health services across the area, had planned on reviewing the eligibility criteria for a number of health services, including fertility treatment, to make it consistent across the geographical area it is responsible for. Commissioning of health services was previously the responsibility of Clinical Commissioning Groups until they were dissolved earlier this year. In a statement the ICB clarified the work previously called 'Difficult Decisions' was now known as the programme for Clinical Policy Alignment.
On 22 September 2022 the Board agreed that assisted conception would be separated from this body of work and dealt with separately, with an interim policy to be developed while awaiting further national guidance expected in 2024 (see BioNews 1151).
Chief medical officer Paul Edmondson-Jones explained the decision during a recent board meeting, Stoke Sentinel reported. 'Originally we were looking to bring these five things through together with a clear recommendation. In July 2022 we had the publication of the Women's Health Strategy. As a result of the recommendations within that, we want to decouple the assisted conception policy from the other four, and to look at developing an interim policy, to keep us legal and safe over the next few months, while we wait for the detail of that national policy and make sure we're aligned to it.'