Story perspectives

Sterilisation Policy Ruled Discriminatory; Board Expands Female Funding

5/2/2026

Summary

Story summary

The Health Service Ombudsman ruled the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board’s sterilisation policy discriminatory, prompting an overhaul.
Leah Spasova, an Oxfordshire psychologist, won her challenge to the board’s refusal to fund sterilisation.
The ombudsman found the board routinely funded vasectomies for men without a regret test.
Thames Valley Integrated Care Board, successor to the ICB, announced a policy to fund female sterilisation and redesign its complaints function.

1 of 1

Story summary

The Health Service Ombudsman ruled the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board’s sterilisation policy discriminatory, prompting an overhaul.
Leah Spasova, an Oxfordshire psychologist, won her challenge to the board’s refusal to fund sterilisation.
The ombudsman found the board routinely funded vasectomies for men without a regret test.
Thames Valley Integrated Care Board, successor to the ICB, announced a policy to fund female sterilisation and redesign its complaints function.