CONTROVERSIAL plans to allow couples free fertility treatment on the NHS would cost Worcestershire's Primary Care Trust around half-a-million pounds a year.

Debate has raged since a Government health watchdog - the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) - drafted guidelines to offer up to six cycles of IVF free.

Under the initial proposals, couples would have to meet certain criteria before becoming eligible for treatment, including trying to conceive for at least a year and having the cause of infertility identified.

The plans will be put out for nationwide consultation later this month, but have already sparked widespread concern about how the changes would be funded.

"The impact of the proposals as they stand would be felt across Worcestershire," said Eamonn Kelly, chief executive of the Redditch and Bromsgrove PCT.

"We will have some additional resources made available next year and if this goes ahead it will represent a significant investment from these funds."

At present, Worcestershire offers just one cycle of IVF treatment - carried out at Birmingham Women's Hospital - to patients between the ages of 25 and 35.

If the NICE plans were given the green light, this would be extended to six free cycles for women up to the age of 40.

"What you have to think is whether you are making the best use of the money you have available," said My Kelly.

"It's something of a balancing act, but if you are going to increase treatment in one area there will always be something else that has to be given up.

"However, it has to be stressed that these plans could still change in the future, so we will have to see how the consultation process goes."