AWTTC publishes IPFR Annual Report 2023-2024

7 October 2024

The All Wales Therapeutics and Toxicology Centre (AWTTC) are pleased to announce publication of the Individual Patient Funding Request (IPFR) annual report for 2023 – 2024.

Compiled by AWTTC the report highlights the work of the IPFR teams across all Welsh Health Boards and the NHS Wales Joint Commissioning Committee (formerly Welsh Health Specialised Services Committee).

In 2023-2024  IPFR teams across Wales have continued to provide a vital service for patients who may require treatments not routinely available in NHS Wales. The teams work hard to ensure that IPFRs are considered in a timely and consistent manner and that decision-making is fair and transparent. Highlighted in the report:

• A total of 392 IPFR requests were considered by panels across Wales, a 17% increase on the previous year.
• Medicine requests increased by 45% compared with the previous year whilst non-medicine requests fell slightly by 12%.
• The number of all IPFRs approved remained at 79%, the same as the previous year. The percentages of patient outcomes reported in 2023–2024 was 14.5% of all IPFRs considered. Of these, 67% of people were reported to have a complete or partial response to treatment, and 67% had an improvement in quality of life.
• The seventh annual IPFR workshop was held in May 2024. The event received fantastic feedback from attendees who had travelled from all health boards in Wales to attend. A training session for clinicians was particularly well received.
• This year we report on local recruitment and training activities undertaken by the IPFR teams; essential to secure quoracy and promote robust decision-making.

An IPFR is defined as ‘a request to a health board or the Joint Commissioning Committee to fund NHS healthcare for an individual patient whose needs fall outside the range of services and treatments that a health board has arranged to routinely provide’.

Further information about the IPFR service in Wales can be found on the AWTTC website.

Prof James Coulson, Clinical Director, AWTTC said: “As Chair of the IPFR Quality Assurance process I am heartened to see continued improvements in the application process at a local level…. It is excellent to see local panel initiatives to develop and improve IPFR service provision and we wish all the panels in Wales continued success in the coming year.”

In 2023-2024 health boards in Wales recruited and trained a combined five new panel members. Several panels are still looking to recruit new members or deputy members.

For information on becoming a lay member please visit the AWTTC website.

For information on panel vacancies for healthcare professionals please contact your local health board IPFR team.

Read the full 2023-2024 IPFR Annual Report

Read previous editions of the IPFR Annual Report