The NHS Kent and Medway assisted reproductive technologies (ART) policy sets out which assisted reproductive technologies interventions are available and the eligibility criteria Kent and Medway patients are required to fulfil in order to access these on the NHS.
This policy was updated on 1 April 2026. Further details can be found below.
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 was submitted and received prior to the 1 April 2026, and eligibility agreed, the previous NHS Kent and Medway ART Policy will apply: Kent and Medway assisted reproductive technologies policy June 2024.
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 doctor has obtained funding approval before the treatment is performed; this is called 'prior approval'.
Requests for prior approval should be submitted to: scwcsu.ifrsoutheast@nhs.net.
The treating doctor must complete and submitthe Assisted Conception and Fertility Preservation Prior Approval Form.
Once you have received prior approval, you will need to consider which Kent and Medway provider you would like to complete your treatment. This chart may support your decision-making: Assisted reproductive technologies provider locations chart.
For patients not meeting the eligibility criteria, or if a treatment is not usually funded, the ICB will only fund the treatment if an individual funding request (IFR) application is successful. Your doctor can make a IFR request if they think you meet the criteria for 'exceptionality' or 'rarity'.
Visit our individual funding requests page for more information.
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.