NHS agrees plans for the future of inpatient mental health and assisted conception services

The NHS body responsible for the health and care of the 1.2 million people across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, has agreed to accept recommendations on two programmes of work. These relate to inpatient mental health services and assisted conception.

The Integrated Care Board (ICB) approved the recommendation to make permanent the temporary change and maintain inpatient mental health services at St George’s Hospital, Stafford, supported by an enhanced community offer.

The Board also approved the recommendation to implement an interim aligned policy to make the criteria for accessing assisted conception services the same across the whole of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.

Chris Bird, Interim Chief Transformation Officer for the ICB, said: “Making sure that people get the right mental health care in their local community is our priority, but when someone needs to be admitted to hospital for their mental health, it is important that they do so in the most appropriate facilities.

“The fire at the George Bryan Centre forced us to review how we deliver these services. There is now much improved mental health provision in the area impacted, and that means inpatient provision is only required in the most serious cases. We have accepted that this means patients who require inpatient treatment are best served by the St George’s Hospital in Stafford which has been used as an interim measure since 2019.”

An interim aligned policy for assisted conception services was approved, which gives the same access to treatment across the whole of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent. It replaces three legacy policies inherited from the six former clinical commissioning groups.

Dr Paul Edmondson-Jones, Chief Medical Officer for the ICB, said: “As an ICB, it has been a key focus to make sure that everyone has the same access to services across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.

“We will revisit the policy when we have further national guidance through the Women’s Health Strategy and updated National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance on fertility, which is expected next year.”

The new interim aligned policy will come into effect from 1 February 2024, and does not impact anybody currently receiving treatment within a specialist fertility provider (tertiary services) as part of the former CCG policies.

Dr Edmondson-Jones added: “We would like to again thank all the people who gave their feedback during our public involvement stages.”