Current involvement opportunities

We are recruiting a Fertility Reference Group to help shape the future of fertility services in the Black Country. This group will play a vital role in ensuring the new service specification reflects the needs, experiences, and priorities of people accessing fertility care.

We are seeking applications from individuals and organisations with lived and learned experience, to review and shape a new specification as part of a re-procurement of the service.

Re-procurement of a service refers to the process an organisation follows when an existing contract for a service is ending and the service needs to be purchased again. It is essentially “buying the service again,” but often with updated requirements and improved value expectations.

Your insights, experiences, and ideas will help us design a contract that delivers an integrated, patient-centred approach to fertility care.

Applicants may include local organisations, community groups, or leaders who are trusted voices in the community, as well as people with direct experience of fertility treatment. We particularly welcome applications from:

• People with lived experience of fertility treatment, including diverse backgrounds such as LGBTQIA+ and black, asian and minority ethnicity communities
• Local fertility support groups and Healthwatch representatives
• Voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise partners working closely with people navigating fertility pathways
• Clinical experts, including fertility specialists, nurses, and other professionals

Commitment required

Members of the Fertility Reference Group will be asked to attend four half-day workshops to review existing insights from our desktop research, critique the draft fertility service specification, considering your expertise, and identify gaps in understanding or areas requiring further engagement.

Four workshops are planned for 2026 (10am - 1pm), these are in person in the Black Country, venues to be confirmed.

• Monday 23 February
• Monday 2 March
• Monday 16 March
• Monday 23 March

There may also be an opportunity to nominate one member of the group as an impartial lay representative to sit on the procurement panel.

Remuneration

Successful applicants will be compensated for their involvement at the rate of £75 per meeting. If further conversations with people and communities are identified, these will be agreed and appropriately remunerated.

More information and how to apply

To apply, please complete an Expression of Interest (EOI) form and submit your completed form to involve.blackcountry@nhs.net by 5pm on Friday 30 January 2026.

If you would like more information or support during the application period, please contact Anna or register to attend our online briefing session on Tuesday 6 January at 12.00pm

Important: Please note that if you are selected for the Fertility Reference Group, your organisation (if applicable) will not be eligible to engage in the procurement exercise as a potential bidder. There will, however, be a separate opportunity to feedback on the service specification at a later stage during market engagement.

The NHS Black Country Integrated Care Board (ICB) is working with partners across the system to transform and strengthen primary care over the next five years. Primary care includes general practice, community pharmacy, dental services and optometry — the services people most often turn to first when they need help with their health.

Building on the conversations we had with you last year about the future of primary care, we have re-established the Clinical Design Reference Group (CDRG). This group brings together clinicians, system partners and community voices to define what “good” looks like in primary care. The shared aim is to reduce unwarranted variation, tackle health inequalities, improve patient experience and support staff wellbeing.

Using data, patient feedback and community insight, the CDRG has identified four priority areas where focused improvement work could make a big difference. We are now setting up Task and Finish Groups for each of these areas, bringing together patients, community leaders, professionals and health and care partners to explore opportunities for change and collaboration.  We are concentrating on how primary care providers can work in more responsive and effective ways to improve the health and experience of priority patient groups, while making sure appointments are used wisely and fairly for all.

Priority areas

• Frailty
• Childhood obesity
• Demand‑intensive practice patients
• Housebound patients with dementia.

Through these Task and Finish Groups, we will bring together data, lived experience and local knowledge to develop practical improvements. We will test new approaches that strengthen prevention, self‑care, access and continuity of care.

We are inviting Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) organisations to join these groups and work alongside clinicians and system partners. We particularly welcome applications from organisations that support people within any of the four priority areas. Your insight is essential to designing pathways that are person‑centred, accessible and grounded in real community experience — helping to bridge the gap between primary care and the communities it serves.

Commitments

Task and Finish Groups will begin at the end of January and run until April 2026. Members will be asked to attend regular meetings (dates and frequency to be confirmed). You may also be asked to speak with local people and communities about ideas being developed by the group.

Successful applicants will be compensated £75 per meeting, up to a maximum of 8 meetings. Any additional community engagement work will be agreed separately and appropriately remunerated.

How to apply

Please complete an Expression of Interest (EOI) form and submit it by Sunday 18 January 2026 to: involve.blackcountry@nhs.net

We will contact successful applicants during the week commencing 19 January 2026, ahead of the next round of Task and Finish Group meetings.

We recognise that the two‑week application window is tight and that some details are still being finalised. For this reason, the EOI has been kept short and straightforward. This work is moving at pace, and it is important that community voices are involved from the very beginning.

If you have any questions, please contact: involve.blackcountry@nhs.net