A NEW IVF programme has been launched at fertility clinics across the North-East with the aim of making the process more accessible.

Access Fertility, the company behind the new programme, have been running a refund programme for the past five years that involves patients paying for IVF treatment but being refunded if it is not successful.

The company is the only one in the UK to offer a new unlimited IVF programme allowing as many IVF cycles needed over a two-year period and a full refund of the fee if the patient is unsuccessful.

Company CEO Ash Carroll-Miller said: "We wanted to help patients to access the amount of treatment they need by lowering the financial risk associated with IVF. We offer patients a greater variety of choice when it comes to starting IVF."

"Pay-as-you-go IVF can be expensive and create uncertainty for patients. We want to make the process as simple and secure as we possibly can. By offering unlimited treatment for two years with a 100 per cent refund, the patient knows exactly where they stand."

Gemma Cooper and David Surtees, who live just outside Durham, had a little girl earlier this year using the programme.

They had previously been denied IVF on the NHS because Mr Surtees has a daughter from a previous relationship.

They said: "When you’re trying to have a baby, everyone tells you try and stay as relaxed as possible but it’s so hard when you’re having treatment and you want something so much but by using Access Fertility, it eliminates part of that pressure because you know you have more than one attempt – it makes such a difference and meant we could relax knowing that we had further attempts and would have a refund if we weren’t successful."