NHS Bradford City CCG, NHS Bradford Districts CCG and NHS AWC CCG AQP Assisted Conception Service.

Bradford City, Bradford Districts and Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven CCGs have a combined registered population of 619,500 patients. Together the CCGs’ locality can be referred to as Bradford District and Craven.

Bradford district is unusual in the high levels of poverty and diversity; hence, it is not representative of the rest of the country, although there are similarities with other UK cities and with cities with high levels of ethnic minority and immigrant communities across the world. Almost half of babies born in the city have parents of Pakistani origin.

Around 20% of the population is of South Asian origin (90% of whom are from Pakistan), and this constitutes a three-generation community that maintains close links with Pakistan. Almost half of the South Asian population in Bradford is of Mirpuri origin. Mirpur is a predominantly rural district in the province of Azad Kashmir in Pakistan. Some members of the community do not read or speak English. However, the majority are able to understand Urdu or Mirpuri, although not all are literate in Urdu. Of the patients attending the specialist fertility clinic, approximately 50% are of South Asian origin, 45% of white British origin and 5% of Eastern European origin.

Bradford district and Craven is served, in the main, by two local hospitals – Airedale NHS Foundation Trust and Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The Provider must establish and demonstrate robust relationships and pathways of care with local obstetrics and gynaecology departments for care of women during pregnancy. This assisted conception service is considered tertiary in nature and the majority of referrals will come from the two local hospitals.

All assisted conception treatment in the UK is statutory regulated by the Human Fertility and Embryo Authority (HFEA). The Commissioner will only commission fertility techniques regulated by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). All tertiary providers of fertility services must be licensed with the HFEA in order to be commissioned.

The most recent DH costing tool estimates that there are 98 attendances at a fertility clinic for every 10,000 head of population. In Bradford Districts and City, this currently averages around 15/week for general fertility and 5/week for the specialist reproductive medicine service. Of these, some patients will be fee-paying. IVF cycles average in the region of 250 per year.

The successful providers(s) will be offered an AQP standard NHS contract. It should be noted that `under the Any Qualified Provider model, there will be no guarantees of volume or payment in the contracts awarded. Service specifications and the electronic application form can be found online at www.nhssourcing.co.uk and applications will be received until 21/12/15. The accreditation will last for five years.