High Cost Drugs & IFR
April 2026 – UPDATE
NHS Central East Integrated Care Board (ICB) was formed on 1 April 2026 and is the successor ICB to NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB, NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICB and the Hertfordshire part of NHS Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB. NHS Central East ICB had transferred to it the property, rights and liabilities of the predecessor organisations.
The actions and decisions of the predecessor organisation, including relevant clinical commissioning policies, relevant prescribing decisions and recommendations and relevant clinical pathways continue in effect. There are differences in places between some clinical commissioning policies, prescribing recommendations and pathways from the predecessor ICBs.
Clinical policies transferred to NHS Central East ICB from each of the relevant predecessor ICBs remain applicable to each part of the population for who they were originally created. These different policies will continue to apply to the relevant populations unless or until any new policy is adopted by the NHS Central East ICB (after public involvement if required).
We are in the process of developing a new NHS Central East ICB website for clinical commissioning policies, pathways and prescribing information. During this transition period, clinicians, providers, patients and the public can continue to access all legacy policies, prescribing recommendations, and pathways via the legacy ICB websites. Where legacy policies are superseded by new NHS Central East ICB policies, this will be clearly indicated on the relevant legacy policy and published on the new Central East website in advance of implementation.
If you have any questions or concerns do continue to contact your local teams at:
Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB ifr.hweicb@nhs.net
Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB Blmkicb.ifrservice@nhs.net
Cambridge and Peterborough ICB cpicb.clinpolicies@nhs.net
High cost drugs (HCDs) are drugs excluded from the National Tariff for which the Integrated Care Board (ICB) is the responsible commissioner. For high cost drugs that are routinely commissioned by the ICB, completion of an electronic form via Blueteq is the preferred method of request. Further information on local ICB routinely commissioned policies for high cost drugs can be found on the Prescribing Information, Bulletins and Guidance and Clinical Guidelines and Pathways pages.
For Trusts who are not currently operating Blueteq, please request a paper proforma by contacting blmkicb.hcd@nhs.net. Upon completion, paper proformas should be sent to the BLMK high cost drugs/commissioning team (via blmkicb.hcd@nhs.net) for processing.
If an HCD request is for an indication that is not routinely commissioned and it applies to a group of patients (rather than an individual), a business case should be submitted to the ICB for consideration. Please contact the high cost drugs/commissioning team via the contact details above.
High cost drugs are normally prescribed by Trust clinicians.
For information on the arrangements for prescribing specialist drugs in primary care, please refer to our BLMK ICB Guidance for GPs on High Cost Drugs (updated Jan 2024).
To access the BLMK ICB’s Commissioning Policy on Risk Sharing / Patient Access Schemes for Medicines please click here to view the Commissioning Policy document.
To access the BLMK ICB’s Commissioning position on High Cost Drugs for 16-17 year olds, please click here to view the Commissioning Positioning document.
INDIVIDUAL FUNDING REQUESTS
Where a particular patient does not meet routine commissioning criteria for a high cost drug and the Trust specialist/consultant believes there is an exceptional clinical circumstance, an individual funding request (IFR) can be submitted to the ICB for consideration. Please contact the IFR team via blmkicb.ifrservice@nhs.net for an application form and information on the application process. Further information on Individual Funding Requests may be found here on our public facing website.
For information on non-drug related requests, please click here to access the BLMK ICB Evidence Based Intervention Policies Website.
DIABETES TECHNOLOGIES
For queries or requests relating to insulin pumps, continuous glucose monitoring, or other diabetes technologies, please contact blmkicb.cgm.blmk@nhs.net. Paper proformas are available via this email address on request.
