Proposed changes to fertility treatment policies in Cheshire and Merseyside

What is happening?

NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board (ICB) launched a six-week public consultation on proposed changes to local fertility treatment policies, which ran from 3 June to 15 July 2025. 

Currently, there are ten NHS subfertility policies being used across Cheshire and Merseyside, which means that people have varying access to NHS funded fertility treatment, depending on where they live. 

NHS Cheshire and Merseyside is proposing a new, single policy, which would mean that in the future everyone would get consistent access to fertility treatment in our area.

The new policy would include a number of changes that would remove variation, and ensure local practice is in line with national guidance, but we are also proposing to make some changes for financial reasons. 

You can find out more about this in the consultation summary booklet.

Update 06/06/2025: Please note, a previous version of the consultation information and questionnaire referred to proposed changes to the requirement for IUI before IVF treatment in Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Wirral. This was an error – the actual proposed change is for the new policy to allow NHS-funded IUI for a number of specific groups across Cheshire and Merseyside, when currently it is not routinely commissioned in Wirral.

We therefore amended the supporting information and questionnaire to reflect this. When we looked at the feedback received, we separated out the answers to the previous version of the question, and explained this in the consultation feedback report (available below). 

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience or confusion – you can contact us at engagement@cheshireandmerseyside.nhs.uk if you have any questions about this.

Public consultation

This consultation has now closed.

People could fill out a short online questionnaire to share their views on the proposal.

Contact details were also provided so that people could request help to complete the questionnaire, or to request a printed version or an alternative format or language.

A report on the feedback we received can be found below, along with supporting information.

Communications toolkit 

Partner organisations were asked to help promote the consultation as widely as possible using this communications toolkit.

Community groups or networks could also contact us to request that NHS Cheshire and Merseyside attend a meeting or event to talk about the proposal.

Further supporting information

Read the new (draft) fertility policy in full.

You can view the ten existing local subfertility policies here. 

Find an Easy Read booklet containing information about the proposed changes here.

You can also read answers to frequently asked questions here.