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.