FIFTY couples have been fast tracked for fertility treatment thanks to an £80,000 handout from Primary Care Groups in County Durham.

The new money allocated by the Dales, Darlington, Sedgefield, Durham and Chester-le-Street and Derwentside groups means that couples who have waited for years can be seen immediately.

Currently would-be parents in County Durham wait for more than four years to see doctors.

Some couples wait for so long they risk reaching the cut-off age for treatment. The only alternative is to go to a private clinic which can cost many thousands of pounds.

New guidelines from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence are due out next summer and are expected to recommend that couples should be seen within two years, wherever they live.

The PCGs are stepping in now with a one-off payment, but will try to find more cash next year.

Priority will go to the couples who have waited the longest. All 50 should be seen at Newcastle's Centre for Life between now and the end of March .

In addition, the South Durham Health Care NHS Trust has funding in its current budget for another 16 couples in its area to be offered treatment.

Each cycle of treatment costs £1,600 and each couple will be offered two chances.

Sarah Holdsworth, commissioning manager for the Dales, Darlington and Sedgefield PCGs said: "We see this as an important service in our list of priorities. We have a lot of demands on money but it was felt that this is important enough to allocate money from our own budgets.

"The PCGs consider the present waiting times to be too long. If a couple had two goes they could be waiting for as long as eight years."

Nicola Lowther, of the support group South West Durham Infertility Needs Group, said: "This is fantastic news - long awaited but excellent.

"If you are on the waiting list, it is the most important thing in the world for you. It is a one-off payment and we hope it continues so that the full demand can be met.