An individual funding request is a procedure with the English and Welsh National Health Service for individuals who require treatments, drugs or therapies that are not normally funded.
Before 2013 these requests were dealt with by primary care trusts. Then they were managed by clinical commissioning groups which each had an individual funding request panel. NHS England manages requests for specialised services which are commissioned by them. [1] They are now dealt with by integrated care systems if the service is not managed by NHS England.
Applications are made by clinicians who are asked to supply evidence of clinical need, clinical and cost-effectiveness, the impact of refusal and exceptionality. This procedure cannot be used if there is likely to be a cohort of similar patients in the same or similar clinical circumstances as the requesting patient whose clinical condition means that they could make a similar request.
Requests are supposed to be dealt with within 20 days. [2]
North Kirklees and Greater Huddersfield CCGs decided in January 2017 that they would stop most individual funding requests, hoping to save £750,000 over the next 18 months. [3]
Medical cannabis has been the subject of a number of requests. [4]
The individual patient funding request system in Wales was reformed in 2017. It will no longer be necessary to show exceptional clinical circumstances, only that a drug will bring "significant clinical benefit" and that it represents "reasonable value for money". [5]
The NHS treatments blacklist is an informal name for a list of medicines and procedures which will not be funded by public money except in exceptional cases. These include but are not limited to procedures which the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has ruled of limited effectiveness and particular brand name medicines. In 2017 there was a proposal for 3,200 over-the-counter (OTC) drugs to be restricted and 18 procedures to be added to the list. This generated some controversy amongst doctors with some arguing that OTC should be blacklisted instead, and others believing the move did not take into account individual patient needs.
Healthcare in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter, with England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales each having their own systems of publicly funded healthcare, funded by and accountable to separate governments and parliaments, together with smaller private sector and voluntary provision. As a result of each country having different policies and priorities, a variety of differences have developed between these systems since devolution.
The National Health Service (NHS) is the publicly funded healthcare system in England, and one of the four National Health Service systems in the United Kingdom. It is the second largest single-payer healthcare system in the world after the Brazilian Sistema Único de Saúde. Primarily funded by the government from general taxation, and overseen by the Department of Health and Social Care, the NHS provides healthcare to all legal English residents and residents from other regions of the UK, with most services free at the point of use for most people. The NHS also conducts research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
Health care rationing refers to mechanisms that are used for resource allocation in health care.
Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) were National Health Service (NHS) organisations set up by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to replace strategic health authorities and primary care trusts to organise the delivery of NHS services in each of their local areas in England. On 1 July 2022, they were abolished and replaced by integrated care systems as a result of the Health and Care Act 2022.
The Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) was introduced in England in 2011. It was established in order to provide a means by which National Health Service (NHS) patients in England could get cancer drugs rejected by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence because they were not cost effective. Its establishment was confirmed by the UK government's coalition agreement in 2010, and by the White Paper, Equity and excellence – Liberating the NHS.
NHS England, formerly the NHS Commissioning Board, is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care. It oversees the budget, planning, delivery and day-to-day operation of the commissioning side of the National Health Service in England as set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2012. It directly commissions NHS general practitioners, dentists, optometrists and some specialist services. The Secretary of State publishes annually a document known as the NHS mandate which specifies the objectives which the Board should seek to achieve. National Health Service Regulations are published each year to give legal force to the mandate.
The Medical Technology Group (MTG) is a not for profit organisation in the United Kingdom comprising patient groups, research charities and medical device manufacturers. Its stated aim is to "work together to improve patient access to effective medical technologies". The Group launched in 2001.
The English national framework for NHS continuing healthcare came into force on 1 October 2007 as a development in the light of the case of Coughlan which established that where a person's need is primarily for health care then the health service must fund the whole cost of nursing home placement. People who qualify are entitled to care paid for by the NHS, for which they do not have to pay, rather than social care, which is means-tested. Most of those who qualify need nursing home care. It is in the interests of local social services departments to establish entitlement to continuing healthcare as this relieves them of any financial responsibility. This system has existed in one form or another since the creation of the NHS.
Healthcare in Devon was the responsibility of two clinical commissioning groups until July 2022, one covering Northern, Eastern and Western Devon, and one covering South Devon and Torbay. It was announced in November 2018 that the two were to merge.
Healthcare in Bedfordshire is the responsibility of Bedfordshire and Luton Integrated Care Systems.
Healthcare in Sussex is the responsibility of NHS Sussex, an integrated care system and the NHS Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.
Healthcare in Staffordshire was the responsibility of six clinical commissioning groups until July 2022, covering Stafford & Surrounds, North Staffordshire, South East Staffordshire and Seisdon Peninsula, East Staffordshire, Cannock Chase, and Stoke-on-Trent.
The "Greater Manchester Model" of NHS health care was a system uniquely devolved within England, by way of close integration with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and local authorities, led by the Mayor of Greater Manchester. In July 2022 the Greater Manchester integrated care system took over responsibility for health and social care in the conurbation. The financial plan for 2022–23 had an initial shortage of £187 million.
Healthcare in Cambridgeshire was the responsibility of NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group until July 2022. This was one of the largest in the United Kingdom.
Healthcare in Essex is now the responsibility of six clinical commissioning groups: Basildon and Brentwood, Mid Essex, North East Essex, Southend, Thurrock and West Essex.
Healthcare in Wiltshire, England, is the responsibility of the integrated care board (ICB) for Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire.
Healthcare in Northumberland was the responsibility of the Northumberland, Newcastle Gateshead, and North Tyneside clinical commissioning groups from 2013 to 2022 before being replaced by integrated care systems.
Healthcare in Yorkshire from 2016 was the responsibility of 19 clinical commissioning groups, which were replaced by integrated care systems in July 2022.
Healthcare in Hertfordshire was the responsibility of the Herts Valleys, East, and North Hertfordshire clinical commissioning groups until July 2022.