Individual Funding Requests (IFR) - what treatments the trust does and does not routinely fund.
It is the statutory duty of the NHS and its Primary Care Trusts to provide comprehensive health care within the resources available. The vast majority of health care commissioned for residents of Bath and North East Somerset is covered by NHS Service Level Agreements or other contracts.
However, there are treatments which have been identified as being of low priority and which will not normally be funded by the PCT unless certain criteria have been met or exceptionality has been proven, and prior approval has been granted via the Individual Funding Request route (Application Form Individual Funding Request 31-3-11.doc Details of these treatments and the criteria may be found on the clinical priorities list (Clinical Priorities List).
There are also a small number of treatments which are not normally commissioned or funded, for example, if the proposed treatment/drugs are:
- new
- not covered in existing contracts
- expensive or rare
The Individual Funding Request process is in place for such situations as these where there may be individual requests for treatment by patients and their clinicians.
Making an Individual Request for Funding
If your doctor feels that you would benefit from a treatment that NHS B&NES does not routinely pay for and therefore you wish to apply for funding, your doctor will need to complete the application form for an Individual Funding Request and send or email it to the Individual Funding Request (IFR) Team as shown below.