The NHS Kent and Medway Kent and Medway assisted reproductive technologies policy[pdf] 405KB sets out which fertility treatments (such as IVF) are funded by the NHS and the eligibility criteria Kent and Medway patients must meet to receive them.
This policy will be updated on 1 April 2026.
NHS Kent and Medway remains committed to offering fertility treatment to our population. Across the NHS we are faced with difficult decisions about how we make the best use of the current resources available. We have a duty to make sure health and care services are provided fairly for everyone in Kent and Medway within the resources available.
This has meant that we have to carefully consider how the budget we receive for healthcare in Kent and Medway is allocated across all elements of health and care. After careful consideration, we have agreed to make changes to our current fertility policy that aligns Kent and Medway with most other areas of the country, focuses resources where clinical success rates are highest, and protects the long-term sustainability of fertility services. We have not made this decision lightly.
As a result, NHS Kent and Medway is changing the eligibility criteria for funding IVF cycles to:
All other Kent and Medway eligibility criteria for IVF remain unchanged.
Across England, the majority of NHS ICB areas fund one IVF cycle. This change will bring Kent and Medway in line with national practice, while helping ensure fertility services remain available for future patients. This has not been an easy decision, and we recognise the impact it will have on some people. We are committed to working with our fertility providers as well as wider health and care professionals to ensure that people can be supported appropriately and in a compassionate and understanding way.
Where a prior approval request is submitted by the secondary care consultant prior to the 1 April 2026, the previous NHS Kent and Medway ART Policy will apply.
Anyone who has already started treatment / had a cycle agreed with prior approval will continue under the current arrangements before the 1 April 2026 change.
Yes. If you have exceptional clinical circumstances, your clinician can apply for funding through the Individual Funding Request process.
We know this news may be upsetting. Emotional and wellbeing support is available, and details of support services are included below.
Free Counselling in Kent and Medway | NHS Talking Therapies.
We reviewed clinical data and worked with clinicians to make sure we knew what was most effective, we looked at what other ICBs were offering, we sent out surveys to key support groups and through ICB channels to ask people for their views.
Treatment is funded by NHS Kent and Medway ICB but only where a patient meets the eligibility criteria set out in the relevant policy and their consultant has obtained funding approval before the treatment is performed; this is called 'prior approval'.
Requests for prior approval should be submitted by the treating consultant to scwcsu.ifrsoutheast@nhs.net.
The treating consultant must complete and submit The Assisted Conception Prior Approval and Fertility Preservation Form (PA).
Once you have received prior approval, you will need to consider details of where you can access treatment using the Assisted reproductive technologies provider locations chart[pdf] 245KB.
For patients not meeting the eligibility criteria, the ICB will only fund the treatment if an individual funding request application is successful. Hospitals and other health care providers should be aware that payment may be withheld if prior approval was not given prior to the procedure being carried out.
There is no blanket ban on any of the treatments covered in the Kent and Medway assisted reproductive technologies policy[pdf] 405KB
If you do not meet the eligibility criteria for a particular treatment or the treatment is not normally funded, your doctor can make an individual funding request if they think that you meet the criteria for 'exceptionality' or 'rarity'.
Visit our Individual funding requests page for more information.