THE boss of a fertility centre has slammed a decision to axe its NHS funding.

NHS patients in north-east Essex will now have to travel to Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire, Leicestershire or London to receive IVF treatment after support was withdrawn from the Isis centre in Colchester.

The decision made by the East of England Specialist Commissioning Group is part of a plan to increase the availability of IVF treatment to NHS patients.

Under the new rules, couples will have three attempts at IVF treatment instead of just one. In addition, people who have children from a previous relationship will now be eligible.

But Isis director Sarah Pallett said she was shocked and dismayed patients would no longer have the option of getting the procedure done in Colchester.

She said: “When there is a first-class facility like ours delivering excellent results on the doorstep, why make people travel so far when they are extremely stressed and emotionally vulnerable?

“They should be allowing patients to choose where they receive their treatment and acknowledging the benefits of using a small, modern, hi-tech facility like ours in friendly surroundings, rather than a large London hospital where you are one of many hundreds of people being treated.”

Ms Pallett praised the NHS for giving couples more chances to conceive, but said it was unfair to discriminate against successful local clinics.

She added the decision was unhelpful for couples who had already had one unsuccessful cycle of IVF more than a year ago, and now qualified for two more tries.

The funding ruling makes an exception allowing couples to stay with their current clinic, but only if their blood tests are in date.

Ms Pallet explained: “Blood tests only last for a year.

“Couples who are happy and comfortable with coming to the Isis centre, but haven’t been able to have a cycle for more than 12 months, will have to go elsewhere.”

The East of England Specialist Commissioning Group, an alliance of health authorities across the region, said it had opted only to fund IVF through the five UK clinics it believed were the best.

Spokesman Ros Stevenson said: “What we understand from a patient’s perspective is, if you are desperate to have a child, you want to go to the best service, which is why we went through this rigorous process to choose the five best places for patients in the region.

“It does, however, mean some providers, like Isis, were unsuccessful.”

Parents speak up for local IVF centre

COUPLES successfully treated at the Isis centre have slammed the plans to withdraw its NHS funding.

Clayton Beckwith, 45, of Blackheath, Colchester, underwent fertility treatment to help concieve his three-year-old daughter, Millie-Rose.

He said: “I’m astonished. The process of going through this treatment is quite considerable. I feel strongly having to go out from the area, particularly for women, is going to be horrendous in terms of timing, stress levels and costs.

“They have such a fantastic service here. If it’s on our doorstep, why not use it?”

Nicola, of Colchester, who was a patient at the Newcomen Way fertility centre, agreed.

The 39-year-old, who asked for her surname not to be published, said: “I have to have blood tests and scans every other day.

“If I had to travel to Cambridge, that would mean four hours of every other day out of my working week – that’s impossible for me.

“There is also the cost of fuel and the stress it would put on me. This is certainly not making it easier for couples in Essex.

“What they have given with one hand, they have taken away with the other.”

The Isis centre has helped hundreds of mums since it opened in 1999.

London stockbrokers Susan and Steven Cahalarn had waited five years for a baby when they became the clinic’s first success story in August 2000.

The centre has been taking NHS patients for four years and one in two women under 35 have been successful in getting pregnant, ten per cent higher than the national average.

The success rate is more modest with women over 35, but still better than the norm.