Making an application
Individual Funding Requests are used when a patient needs to access a specialised service or medication that is not routinely available on the NHS.
A clinician has to complete an application on the patient’s behalf. However, it is useful to understand the process. The NHS has a guide for patients who are applying for Individual funding requests.
It is your clinician’s responsibility to include the detail about your condition. The assessors may not know about rare diseases and they are not able to go away and research the condition. If your clinician is unsure whether to apply on your behalf they can contact the IPFR assessors to see if the medication in question has been approved before.
To be successful the IPFR application must provide evidence that the patient is ‘clinically exceptional’. This means their clinical condition must be significantly different to others with the same condition, and subsequently the patient would gain significantly more benefit from intervention than might normally be expected.
The IPFR process feedback
We know from some people that the IPFR process can be frustrating, some report long delays, and many people are only approved on their second or third application. The NHS is only able to approve a small minority of applications, your clinician will be able to decide the best approach to getting you the treatment you require. (The Foundation continues to contribute to consultations to support these medications being made routinely available by the NHS).