A mum-of-two who had her first baby through IVF treatment and miraculously fell naturally pregnant with her second has condemned proposed changes to fertility services.
Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) - which commissions health services in Halstead - currently allows up to three cycles.
But it is considering three options:
* To keep it to three cycles
* To restrict couples to just one cycle
* To restrict IVF to cancer patients and allow couples in which the man is HIV positive to have treatment
Medical director Donald McGeachy said the money saved will help the CCG - one of the worst funded in the country - will save enough to transform long term healthcare.
Two years ago Toni Heath, a health care support worker at the Elizabeth Courtauld Surgery in Halstead, underwent in vitro fertilisation on the NHS after trying to have a child with her husband Mark for five years.
Luckily she fell pregnant with her son Jaxson, who is two this month.
She said: “They had the ultrasound on my stomach and I saw them release the embryo and it floated away."
See this week's Halstead Gazette for the full story.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here