The Board of Bath and North East Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group (B&NES CCG) has decided to make no change to its policy on male vasectomy, but will be changing its policies on female sterilisation and fertility services.

The result comes after a ten-week public consultation on the CCG’s proposals to restrict access to the three services in a move to cut costs.

The CCG faces unprecedented financial challenges, common with many other CCGs around the country, as NHS budgets are stretched by a growing demand and changing needs. Next year it faces a potential funding gap in the region of £6m.

Taking into account the negative feedback about stopping funding for vasectomies, and the potential for unplanned pregnancies to incur more cost than the cost of the procedure, male vasectomies will continue to be available on the NHS.

Female sterilisations will also continue to be funded in B&NES for women who have exhausted alternative, long-acting forms of contraception. The CCG Board also approved recommendations to change its fertility policy so that:

• The female partner receiving treatment must be aged between 23 and 37 years

• The male partner of the woman receiving treatment must be aged 55 years or under

• The female partner receiving treatment must have a body mass index (BMI) in the healthy range for women wanting to conceive, of 19-30

• The male partner of the woman receiving treatment must have a healthy BMI of under 30

• For IVF, couples must have been trying to conceive for at least two years where the female partner is aged 35 years or younger, and one year where the female partner is aged 36–37 years.

The majority of people who took part in the consultation disagreed with the original proposal to lower the upper age requirement for women undergoing fertility treatment to 35 years. During its meeting, the Board took these views into consideration alongside Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority data, that shows pregnancy rates after IVF decline when a woman is older than 35 years. However, this same data shows a more marked decline in treatment success after 37 years, therefore the Board decided to make a revision to the final policy changes by implementing an age criteria of 23 to 37 years.

Dr Ian Orpen, Clinical Chair of B&NES CCG, said: “The CCG Board has found this an incredibly difficult decision to make; however our financial challenge has forced us to have to consider restricting access to services to protect resources needed for patients who require urgent and emergency care, as well as those in our population with increasingly complex health and social care needs.

“The final policy changes we have implemented reflect a balancing of public feedback, clinical evidence and our financial position.

“The volume of feedback we received – over 1,000 individual responses, was a very welcome sign that B&NES residents are engaged with the NHS and want to take the opportunity to have their say.

“In fact, we have never received so much feedback before, and want to thank people for taking the time to give us their views.”

Results at: banesccg.nhs.uk and click on ‘Get Involved’.