The county that pioneered IVF 40 years ago has become the latest victim of the clampdown on fertility treatment offered freely on the NHS.
Health chiefs in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough area have stopped giving infertile women the service with immediate effect.
The decision, which has attracted huge backlash, is expected to save the clinical commissioning group (CCG) £700,000.
It follows similar controversial decisions made by cash-strapped boards in Croydon and a part of Essex as they react to NHS budget cuts.
Some exceptions will apply to the new plans. Cancer patients who have been left infertile by treatment will still be given free access.
Health chiefs in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough area have stopped giving infertile women the service with immediate effect
Those couples who had already been referred for IVF will still receive one cycle, after the plans initially proposed at the start of the year went ahead.
‘Financially necessary’
Dr Gary Howsam, chair of the CCG, said it was ‘one of the hardest decisions we’ve had to take’ but said it was ‘financially necessary’.
In a statement, he added: ‘I think there’s a recognition that the NHS funding situation is desperate in our region.
‘The CCG has finite resources to fund a whole range of health services and treatments.
‘We need to save £46.5 million this financial year, and so we have had to review all areas of our spending and to make some difficult decisions.’
Nearly 2,400 women have since hit back at the decision and have signed a petition begging for the CCG to reverse its stance.
The first human egg was fertilised using IVF in a Cambridge laboratory in 1978 by biologist Robert Edwards.
As a result of their breakthrough, nearly four million children have been born using the technique – allowing many infertile women to start their dream family.
IVF and the guidelines
Currently, IVF is only offered on the NHS if certain criteria are met. Patients who don’t are usually left with no alternative but to pay for private treatment.
In 2013, NICE published new fertility guidelines about who should have access to the treatment in England and Wales.
The watchdog recommends that women under 40 should be offered three cycles for free if they have been trying to conceive for three years.
However, individual CCGs make the final decision about who can access it in their local area, and their criteria may be stricter.
Where else has had funding cuts?
Basildon and Brentwood CCG was the first to take such drastic action back in November in a step it said would save £14 million.
Croydon became the second in England to stop funding IVF. Its CCG took the decision in a bid to save £836,000 a year.
But it is believed many others could follow suit amid the postcode lottery created by CCGs who defy national guidelines.
The news follows MailOnline’s revelation that IVF could be limited to just HIV patients and cancer survivors left infertile from treatment in one London borough.
In light of the NHS financial crisis, Richmond CCG in south-west London proposed to change its policy on who will be eligible to receive fertility treatment.
It stated it needs to make £13 million in savings in the next financial year – and IVF will be the first service to be slashed.