A CHARITY chief has spoken of her anger at NHS Warrington's decision to cut IVF funding.

The primary care trust says it will save more than £350,000 in the move.

But that has provoked anger from a top charity Clare Lewis-Jones MBE, chairman of the National Infertility Awareness Campaign (NIAC) and chief executive of charity The Infertility Network UK, said: “We are very angry indeed at the decision taken by Warrington PCT to suspend funding for IVF treatment. The PCT has suggested that infertility does not affect general physical health but we deal with patients every day who contact us and whose health has been adversely affected by this illness.

“NICE Guidance issued in 2004 recommended eligible couples should receive up to three full cycles of treatment.

“It is high time that PCTs realised the impact infertility has on patients. In particular those patients who are currently in the process of being referred will be devastated to learn that they will not now be eligible for treatment, and yet if they lived elsewhere, their PCT would fund their treatment.

“This is completely unfair and we would urge Warrington PCT to reconsider this decision. They have already stated that IVF is only provided to a limited number of couples – the cost benefits to the PCT of scrapping this funding are well outweighed by the distress this will cause those patients.”