FOI 2026/1622

I am writing to make a request for information under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Can you please provide the following information:

1. How much in total was spent by maternity departments you are responsible for, for each calendar year dating back to 2016? Including all staffing, equipment and other costs.

• The preference is for calendar years, but if the information is more easily recovered by financial years and converting to calendar years would make the request exceed the Section 12 cost limit, delivering the data by financial year would be okay.
• Likewise, if it would exceed the Section 12 cost limit to extract data beyond a certain year, providing data for as many years as would not exceed the limit would be okay.

2. How many cycles of IVF treatment do you offer to eligible patients?

NHS Greater Manchester ICB (NHS GM) was formed on 1 July 2022 following the merger of the 10 former NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) for Greater Manchester, plus some additional organisations. The 10 former CCGs were NHS Bolton CCG, NHS Bury CCG, NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale CCG, NHS Manchester CCG, NHS Oldham CCG, NHS Salford CCG, NHS Stockport CCG, NHS Tameside and Glossop CCG, NHS Trafford CCG and NHS Wigan Borough CCG.

The commissioning responsibilities of the 10 former CCGs transferred to NHS GM on 1 July 2022, with the exception of patients registered with a Glossop based GP, for whom commissioning responsibility instead transferred to NHS Derby and Derbyshire ICB.

However, the information requested in question 1 is not held by NHS GM, or its predecessor CCGs. Whilst NHS GM and the predecessor CCGs will hold information on what NHS GM or the CCGs have spent, information as to the expenditure made by maternity departments themselves is not held. In addition, the nature of contracts held by NHS GM or the predecessor CCGs may mean that the specific expenditure on a particular service (e.g. maternity) is not separately identifiable from within a wider block contract.

Instead, information in respect of the expenditure of an individual maternity department would be expected to be held by the NHS Foundation Trusts which operate the maternity departments themselves. Contact details for the NHS Foundation Trusts in Greater Manchester who operate maternity departments can be found in the table below.

2. This information is available on the organisation’s website Greater Manchester Integrate Care Website – Individual Funding Request Page once on the page if you click on ‘View the Greater Manchester Commissioning Statements’ it will bring up a list of statements. The number of IVF cycles funded can be found within the Assisted Conception Commissioning Statement.

Please note that the number of IVF cycles funded will change on the 1 April 2026 to:

For women aged 39 and under NHS Greater Manchester commissions 1 full cycle of IVF (and allows a second attempt at a full cycle if the first attempt is abandoned or cancelled).

NOTE: Treatment must have commenced before the woman’s 40th birthday.

For women aged 40-42 (i.e. before her 43^rd birthday) NHS Greater Manchester commissions 1 full cycle provided:

• They have never previously had IVF (including privately) – (For same sex female couples: neither partner has previously had IVF)

• There has been a discussion about the implications of IVF at this age

Their single cycle of IVF can be carried out with donor eggs if one of the following applies:

• total antral follicle count (AFC) of less than or equal to 4
• anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) of less than or equal to 5.4 pmol/l
• follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) greater than 8.9 IU/l

NOTE: These are the risk factors for a poor ovarian response in this age group as laid out by NICE in 2013.

NOTE: Treatment must have commenced before the woman’s 43^rd birthday.

A single second attempt at a full cycle, with their own or donor eggs as appropriate, is permitted if the first attempt ends in a cancelled or abandoned cycle (this MUST commence before the woman’s 43^rd birthday.)

Who the changes apply to:

• Anyone referred to an IVF clinic before 1 April 2026 will continue under version 3.1 (17 Nov 2021) of the commissioning statement.  Please remember that for women aged 39 and under, if the woman turns 40 before all cycles are completed then no further cycles will be funded after the current cycle is completed.

• Anyone whose referral is received by an IVF clinic on or after 1 April 2026 will be treated under the version 3.2 (1 April 2026) of the commissioning, regardless of earlier GP or hospital appointments.