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Proposed changes to access to fertility treatment for people living in north east London (20.40)

Minutes:

7.1   The Chair welcomed for this item:

 

  Diane Jones (DJ), Chief Nursing Officer, NHS NEL

  Dr Anju Gupta (AG) GP and Clinical Lead at NHS NEL

 

7.2  Members gave consideration to a briefing paper ‘NHS help to try and have a baby - proposed changes for people living in North East London’’. The Chair added that Members in Hackney had requested a special local briefing on it and they were now reassured that overall it represented a levelling up of service.

 

7.3  Diane Jones took Members through the briefing paper. She explained that they had started from the NICE guidance and were proposing a single unified policy and they had clinical experts review existing policies and draft the new one. They were looking predominantly here at people who had a medical reason to receive assisted support with conception. They had also carried out an Equality Impact Assessment, had done a number of engagement events and had surveyed 230 stakeholders and were about to hold two more consultation events. 

 

7.4  The Chair stated that broadly speaking this appeared to be a widening of access and a levelling up to effectively 3 full IVF cycles and he asked about the additional costs of this policy. HB replied that cost wasn’t a driving factor here and it would be a relatively small amount of money out of the full £4bn budget.

 

7.5   Cllr Patrick asked about those unable to conceive without assistance having to prove they have a problem. DJ replied there were a variety ways in which people would arrive at eligibility for the service: either having tried to conceive or having previous surgery or recovering from cancer which would have had the side effect of inhibiting or preventing conception. All these would be discussed with GPs to determine the root cause. She reiterated that it was not the case that the cost of trying to prove whether there was a problem would fall on patients. It would be part of the core NHS offer and patients would be put in a pathway for tests to be done in the first instance. 

 

7.6  The Chair asked about contingent rules re weight and smoking which might act as a barrier to receiving the treatment and asked what support was being put in place for these cohorts. DJ replied that smoking and weight can affect chances of success in conceiving and they would inform patients about healthy options and relevant programmes of support. There might also be other health components to a case and all these would be considered before the offer of assisted conception was made. 

 

7.7  The Chair asked whether this evaluation was wider than just a BMI score?  DJ replied that it would be a combination of factors and the GP would make a full assessment and would refer them as appropriate to the assisted conception programme so it was a holistic approach.

 

7.8  The Chair thanked DJ for her report and for taking on board the comments of Members at the previous meeting on the shaping of the consultation exercise and the documents. 

 

RESOLVED:

That the report and discussion be noted.

Supporting documents: