What we do and don't fund

Evidence Based Interventions (EBI)

When we spend money on health and care services for the people of Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire, we take into account the needs of the whole population.

The demand for our services is always greater than the money we have available, so it is not possible for us to fund every available treatment. This means we sometimes have to make difficult decisions regarding which treatments are routinely provided.

BSW ICB has a set of policies and procedures in place in order to reduce variation of care provision across England, follow the principles of good medical practice and limit the number of procedures of limited clinical value (PLCV).

We refer to the NHS Evidence-Based Interventions Programme (EBI) for guidance. Its aim is to manage and prevent avoidable harm to patients, to avoid unnecessary operations, and to free up clinical time by only offering treatment on the NHS that is evidence-based and is clinically effective.

Our Evidence Based Intervention Clinical Policies listed below outline whether an intervention is not normally funded (INNF) or whether the intervention has a clinical criteria threshold to access treatment and is therefore either criteria based access (CBA) or prior approval (PA) is required. It is the responsibility of the clinicians and referrers to ensure patients meet the policy criteria before referring or commencing treatment.

We know, however, that there are times when you could benefit from a particular treatment that is not usually funded by us. Your GP or Consultant may make a request on your behalf for such a treatment if they feel there are exceptional clinical circumstances related to your case. This request is called an Exceptional Funding Request (EFR).

View If I pay for private treatment, how will my NHS care be affected?

View the BSW ICB - Exceptional Funding Requests, Prior Approval & Criteria Based Access Policy

View the Statement on European Cross Border Health Care

View advice for Getting as fit as possible for surgery

View the General Principles for Funding Approval

View the BSW CP091 - Management of patients moving in and out of BSW

View the Medicines Management Team Advisory Summary for Private Treatments

View information for patients who have accessed self-funded weight-loss treatment outside of the NHS

Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire ICB Funding Policies

For a small number of treatments, individual policies for each locality still apply. View locality-specific policies for BaNES, Swindon and Wiltshire.