Over recent months there have been huge pressures on the health budget and the need to make savings has been significant. The news that the vasectomy community has been dreading has arrived with what seems like the end of community vasectomy services from October 2023.
Elective Care Reform (ECR) was an initiative led by the Federation of GP services since 2018 in collaboration with the Health and Social Care Board. The idea was based on the premise for services and smaller operations that were traditionally carried out in hospital environments, be moved into community settings, and carried out by GP’s that had been specially trained to carry out these procedures.
These services spanned Gynaecology, Minor surgery, Dermatology, Orthopaedics and Vasectomy services.
GPs that had a specialist interest in these areas were recruited by Federations and have set up clinics in various community settings including Carryduff GP surgery.
Since 2018 more than 51000 patients have been seen within the elective care setting and have delivered a wide range of medical procedures and consultations carried out with high levels of patient satisfaction and positive outcomes.
Bringing vasectomy into the community was perhaps the most ambitious of all the elective care projects. Waiting lists for vasectomies at that time were measured in years with some people waiting 4 years for their first consultation. It was essentially a non-existent service that meant that many couples were denied this as an option for contraception.
At that time 10 GPs who had a specialist interest in minor surgery were trained by specialist vasectomy surgeons from the Association of Primary Care Surgeons (ASPC). They were trained in the Non Scalpel Vasectomy technique, which had never been performed in Northern Ireland before.
The GP Vasectomists quickly went about setting up Vasectomy clinics in Carryduff, Portadown, Derry and Ballyclare. There was a lot of scepticism about whether this could be delivered in Northern Ireland.
The service is a resounding success with over 7000 vasectomies being performed since 2018. There has been excellent satisfaction with very low levels of complications. They have also trained other surgeons in the Non-scalpel Vasectomy technique to make the service self-sustaining. Unfortunately, the service has also been a victim of its own success with waiting lists creeping up post covid to 18 months for a community vasectomy.
Over recent months there have been fears about the funding of the service. With no recurrent funding being identified for elective care, it makes it an easy target when cuts are to be made.
We received the news that Gynaecology, Orthopaedics and Dermatology services were to have funding reduced by 50% and unbelievably the Vasectomy service was to be reduced by 66% with no planned service from October 2023.
This is devastating news for patients that have been waiting for their procedures and also for the Vasectomy service who will not be able to maintain the skills of the doctors who founded and maintained the service since 2018. There is no obvious funding being identified after October 2023 and it is likely that these skills will be lost for a generation.
Non-Scalpel Vasectomy is an incredibly safe and effective method of contraception. VasectomyNI was set up to offer patients an option for this in the independent sector and avoid the waiting lists and the high costs traditionally associated with a private operation. The surgeons in VasectomyNI have extensive experience in the community vasectomy service and aim to deliver the same high patient satisfaction and low complication rates associated with the NHS service.
For more information you can read the latest news article on this topic on the BBC News Website –
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-66332446
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