IVF treatment will be controversially cut from Monday in an NHS bid to make multimillion pound savings.

Basildon and Brentwood Clinical Commissioning Group, which buys healthcare services in both boroughs, will no longer accept referrals for couples seeking fertility treatment on the NHS.

The group voted through the plans yesterday to make an estimated £14million in savings.

Simultaneous joint replacements are also set to be scaled back.

Patients who have already been referred for fertility treatment will now receive just one NHS-funded IVF cycle - as opposed to the current three being offered.

They can complete their current cycle if already on a second or third cycle, but any frozen embryo transfers will be limited to just one.

Despite 42 per cent of people who took part in a survey calling for IVF to remain funded in a lengthy public consultation, bosses have given it the boot.

Campaigners have condemned the decision, taken at a board meeting yesterday.

Fertility patient Lisa Strum, who had to pay privately for IVF, said: “I live in Brentwood and was considered to be too old for NHS funding. I understand how important it is to feel like you’ve tried. Not just tried a little – but tried everything. Covered every option.

“The decision by Basildon and Brentwood Clinical Commissioning Group will prevent couples from having this option. They will always wonder ‘what if?’ “It will turn having a child into an elitist option for anyone struggling to conceive.”

Susan Seenan, from campaign group Fertility Fairness, said: “The decision to cut NHS IVF for new and existing patients is cruel and unethical.

“Essex is now officially the worse place to live in England if you hope to access NHS fertility services - in the last two years three local groups have decommissioned NHS fertility services.

“This news will come as an enormous blow to the one in six couples who need medical help in order to become parents.”

Funding of e-cigarettes, cosmetic procedures such as liposuction and breast enlargements, have also been recommended to be scrapped.