Individual Funding Requests

An individual funding request (IFR) is a request to a Primary Care Trust to fund healthcare for an individual who falls outside the range of services and treatments that the Trust has agreed to commission.

IFRs generally occur where: 

• the patient has a common condition but claims that the usual care pathway is not appropriate for them.
• the patient wants to take advantage of a medical treatment that is novel, developing, or unproven and which is not part of the primary care trust’s commissioning plans.
• the patient has a very rare condition and is making the request for funding of the recommended care pathway.

Requests are normally made by the patient’s GP or consultant, however patients can also self-refer.

Our patient’s guide gives more information about the individual funding request process. To obtain a patient self-referral form, email the individual funding request administrator at ifr@sotw.nhs.uk or call 0191 529 7242.

You can find more information about the referral process here.

If you have concerns about the way a funding request has been dealt with, you can contact the Patient Advice Liaison Service (PALS).

Commissioning for Health Gain Policies provide more details on the IFR process.