NORTH Essex MP Bernard Jenkin has backed a clinic’s call to keep NHS-funded fertility treatment in Colchester.

The Isis Centre, in Newcomen Way, lost out when health chiefs opted to fund an extra two IVF cycles for couples, but only at five clinics – not including the Isis clinic in Colchester.

Mr Jenkin said he wanted to find out why Isis had been overlooked.

He said: “I have seen the criteria on which they assessed the clinics and have many questions which need answering, including why they have not included patient experience.

“My concern is for local patients, who will suffer as a result of this decision being made. This verdict should not go unchallenged.”

The Isis Centre, which will still take private patients, says travelling for treatment at the approved clinics will be costly and time-consuming for north Essex residents, who would previously have been referred there.

Of the centres awarded contracts, two are in London and the others are in Cambridge, Oxford and Leicester.

The NHS East of England Specialised Commissioning Group, which made the decision, says it picked only the most successful venues as getting pregnant is more important to couples than how far they must travel.

Isis director Mark Passmore said statistics showed its performance was above average.

He said: “We want to know why, people should be forced to travel so far when they are extremely stressed and emotional.”

There is no right of appeal against the funding decision but Mr Jenkin hopes to get it overturned.

The commissioning group reviewed its contracts after deciding to increase the number of IVF treatments on the NHS for women to three, along with three frozen embryo treatments, a decision which has been welcomed by Isis.