From November 2017, patients will no longer be able to receive IVF at the Bristol Centre for Reproductive Medicine (BCRM), Southmead Hospital.
North Bristol NHS Trust has decided to end the provision of IVF treatment, though patients will still have access to fertility assessments, investigations and surgery. A consultation about the recommissioning of assisted conception services, and the service specifications will run until 30 June 2017.
‘Following a strategic review in 2016, the Trust has decided to stop providing specialist licensed fertility services from November 2017 in order to focus on its core activity of providing acute NHS services. General infertility services including diagnosis and investigation will however continue to be provided by the Trust as normal,’ read a statement from the South Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).
North Bristol NHS Trust says that the change is due to a rise in the number of couples paying for their own IVF treatment, with a reduction in the number of patients at the clinic receiving their treatment on the NHS. These changes have resulted from the reduction in numbers of funded cycles and restrictions on eligibility by local CCGs.
Full story in BioNews, 26 June 2017