Individual Patient Funding Requests (IPFR)

Every year Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board receives an NHS budget allocated to us by the Welsh Government to pay for our local population’s health services.

In addition, the NHS Wales Joint Commissioning Committee (NWJCC) plan and provide specialised and tertiary services on behalf of Health Board in Wales to reduce duplication and ensure consistency.

Unfortunately the demand for NHS services is always greater than the money available, so we have to prioritise the use of funds carefully as it is not possible to fund every available treatment.

Whilst the vast majority of treatment and services that patients need are offered routinely on the NHS, there may be some cases where a decision has been taken not to routinely provide the treatment. This may be because there is limited evidence for how well the treatment works in those patients or because the treatment is very expensive and doesn’t offer good value for money for the NHS.

There will also be instances where a treatment is still very new and a decision hasn’t been taken yet on whether it should be offered routinely on the NHS in Wales. Your GP or hospital consultant can ask us, on your behalf, to fund a treatment that we would not normally provide for you on the NHS in Wales. The NHS Wales Policy, Making Decisions on Individual Patient Funding Requests (IPFR), clearly sets out how these requests are dealt with, and how an application can be made:

More information on IPFR can be found here:

IPFR - All Wales Therapeutics and Toxicology Centre (nhs.wales)

Our preferred method of funding request submissions is by IPFR Electronic Submission which can be accessed here: Index - IPFR (wales.nhs.uk). Please note you will need to be connected via an NHS portal and you will need to register for access.

Contact

The best person to talk to about your healthcare and whether an IPFR or request for treatment in the EEA should be made is your GP or Hospital Consultant.

If you wish to discuss any of the policies mentioned above, please contact the IPFR Team:

Email: BCU.IPFR@wales.nhs.uk
Telephone: 03000 846880

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board,
IPFR Team - Office of the Medical Director,
Block 22, Glan Clwyd Hospital,
Sarn Lane, Bodelwyddan,
LL18 5UJ

Please note they will not be able to discuss your healthcare because they are not clinically trained but will be able to talk to you about how a request for treatment can be made and considered.