Patients and the public were invited to share their views on proposed changes to 13 health treatment policies for those living in Birmingham, Solihull and Sandwell.

This was the third phase of NHS Birmingham and Solihull Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS Sandwell and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group’s (CCG) harmonised clinical treatment policy project; which ensures that commissioning policies are consistent with the most up-to-date published clinical evidence in order to prioritise treatments proven to be clinically effective, as well as stopping unwarranted variation for patients across Birmingham, Solihull and Sandwell.

Dr Geoff Naylor, Lead Planned Care GP, said: “Treatment policies are designed to provide fair, consistent and transparent access to treatment for patients.CCGs have finite resources and are required to ensure treatment policies are evidence-based, achieve best clinical outcomes for patients and provide the most cost-effective use of NHS resources. 

“Our treatment policies have been developed to be informed by the most up-to-date clinical evidence, best practice and clinical opinion nationally. During this engagement period, we would really value and appreciate feedback from the public to ensure our next phase of treatment policies are as clinically robust as possible for our local patients.”

The six-week engagement period ran from Thursday 5 September until Friday 11 October 2019 and included a survey as well as a variety of community engagement events.

The policies reviewed were:

1. Arthroscopic sub-acromial decompression
2. Image guided therapeutic intra-articular joint injections with corticosteroids with/without local anaesthetic
3. Image-guided HIGH VOLUME intra-articular injections (40mls+) of saline with or without corticosteroid and/or local anaesthetic
4. Exogen bone healing
5. Liposuction for lymphoedema
6. Liposuction for lipoedema
7. Body contouring (apronectomy)
8. Bariatric surgery
9. Knee arthroscopy – acute
10. Non Invasive Ventilation (NIV)
11. Biological mesh
12. Adenoidectomy
13. Hysteroscopy for heavy menstrual bleeding.

The policies were approved at Birmingham and Solihull CCG’s Governing Body meeting on 4 February 2020, and are due to be effective for all new referrals from 1 March 2020.

Find out more:

• View the full list of policies - Harmonised treatment policies - phase 3
• Read the Harmonised treatment policies - phase 3 - Patient, public, stakeholder and clinical engagement report
• Read the draft Harmonised treatment policies - phase 3a - You said, we did report
• Read the draft Harmonised treatment policies - phase 3b - You said, we did report
• View the Governing Body papers here.