Unions back legal action to save Hartlepool Fertility Services
As the battle over Hartlepool's IVF services continues, Unions are now backing the fight to keep it open.
As the battle over Hartlepool's IVF services continues, Unions are now backing the fight to keep it open.
Unison have welcomed the prospect of legal action from Hartlepool Borough Council, disputing the Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees CCG's claims there were no offers to take over running the service.
Mike Hill from Unison thinks their stance is wrong;
“We understand that at least three organisations came forward and more so we understand that at least one of those organisations was a renowned NHS provider in the field.”
The service has faced uncertainty for over a year now, after the CCG proposed the closure of the Assisted Reproduction Unit.
If it closes, it would leave James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough as the only facility on Teesside to get NHS fertility treatment.
Mike Hill, continued;
“As Hartlepool’s MP, Ian Wright and many others, UNISON is concerned that the loss of licensed IVF treatment, in what only can considered to be ‘questionable circumstances’, is simply a delivery by the CCG of the original agenda set by North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust.
“If this is the case, then like the people of Hartlepool and the communities they serve, our members will feel badly let down by an outcome that flies in the face of the will of the people.”
Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees CCG issued a statement on the latest development in the case;
‘Following North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust advising the CCG that they could no longer deliver a safe and clinically effective assisted reproduction service (IVF, IUI) at University Hospital of Hartlepool we, along with NHS Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield CCG, NHS Darlington CCG and NHS South Tees CCG undertook a formal public consultation between 31st May and 15th July 2016.
The findings of the consultation were received by the CCGs Governing Body on 22nd July 2016. Governing Body convened on 26th July 2016 and agreed to progress the recommended option which was option 1; to procure a comprehensive assisted reproductive service including HFEA (Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority) licensed and unlicensed provision at Hartlepool delivered by an alternative provider.
The risk of this option (highlighted in the consultation document) was that the CCG may be unable to secure and commission an alternative provider to deliver a full service from the University Hospital of Hartlepool site.
Unfortunately, due to a limited response from the provider market and the bids received not meeting the required quality standards, we have not been successful in securing a provider that can offer both licensed and unlicensed fertility services at Hartlepool.
The priority of the CCGs is to ensure that patients can continue to have as much of their care delivered locally at the Hartlepool site and on this basis we are working closely with existing NHS commissioned providers in the region to deliver unlicensed services at the Hartlepool site. This will mean that patients have an increased choice of Providers at the Hartlepool site than was previously available. Any patient who following tests require licensed fertility services (e.g. IVF, ICSI) will then be offered this at the base site of their chosen provider.
We are disappointed that we have not been able to secure a provider but as commissioners our priority is to ensure any service we commission is safe, clinically effective and of the highest quality. Although patients told us during the consultation that they would be prepared to travel for fertility treatment we do know that this will be difficult for some and we will work with providers to minimise the impact of these changes as much as possible.
North Tees and Hartlepool Foundation Trust will be contacting all patients who have embryos in storage at their site to ask them to choose which HfEA licenced provider in the region they would like their embryos to transfer to for continued storage and any subsequent treatments.
We understand that this will cause distress to patients who have really valued the full service delivered at Hartlepool.’