Individual requests for funding

Purposes for processing

On an individual basis, there may be situations where a clinician believes that their patient’s clinical situation is so different to other patients with the same condition that they should have their treatment paid for when other patients would not. In such cases, NHS clinicians can ask NHS England, on behalf of a patient, to fund a treatment which would not usually be provided by NHS England for that patient. This request is called an Individual Funding Request (IFR). A guide for patients is available.

Sources of the data

The information may be provided by a clinician who submits an IFR application form on behalf of a patient.

Categories of personal data

The IFR application form includes NHS number, name and address, date of birth, GP details, diagnosis, requested intervention and other information relevant to the request. Gender and ethnicity are also collected and held in anonymous form for equality monitoring.

Categories of recipients

Applications are considered by an independent panel who have not been involved in your treatment. The panel is made up of doctors, nurses, public health experts, pharmacists, NHS England representatives and lay members and is led by a lay chair.

Legal basis for processing

For GDPR purposes NHS England’s lawful basis for processing is Article 6(1)(e) – ‘…exercise of official authority…’. For the processing of special categories (health) data the basis is Article 9(2)(h) – ‘…health or social care…’.