A NEW fertility centre which aims to treat up to a thousand families a year has opened in the region.

The Cromwell IVF and Fertility Centre is based at the private Woodlands Hospital on the edge of Darlington.

It replaces the Cromwell unit at the Washington Bupa Hospital, on Wearside, which has treated 3,000 childless couples in the past 12 years and produced about 700 babies.

Dr Kamal Ahuja, the consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician in charge of the Washington IVF clinic, said the new Darlington centre offered "state-of-the-art" treatment facilities.

"We have our own operating theatres, own laboratories, ultrasound facilities and patient facilities," said Dr Ahuja, who also runs a London centre.

The Cromwell chain of private fertility clinics is looking to develop the Darlington unit as a regional centre, with a new emphasis on attracting patients from North Yorkshire.

Because of the good links with Teesside International Airport, the Cromwell group is also expecting patients from as far afield as London.

The clinic is opening at a time when NHS fertility services appear to be contracting in some parts of the region.

While IVF treatment starts at £2,000 to £2,500 for those who can afford to pay, the Cromwell centre will continue to offer heavily subsidised treatment to patients who agree to take part in egg-sharing schemes.

These increasingly popular schemes, pioneered at Washington by the Cromwell group, involve women who are given infertility drugs to stimulate ovulation agreeing to give up some of their fertilised eggs to benefit other childless women.

Dr Ahuja said women who qualified for the egg sharing scheme would pay £150 and could begin treatment within a few months.

Existing patients who are unable to travel to Darlington will still be able to see their Cromwell consultants at Washington.