FOR the childless couples on the waiting list, the decision by health bosses in East Lancashire to stop sending patients for fertility treatment will come as a harsh blow.

Nonetheless, this move by the East Lancashire Health Authority, which buys care for the region's people, is the right one - simply because it has got its priorities right.

For, despite all the anguish that the childless may experience, theirs is a condition, not an illness. And with its finite resources, the NHS must give priority to those who are sick.

Indeed, we discover that the authority's budget for sending patients to out-of-town hospitals - as happens with East Lancashire couples referred for fertility treatment - was hugely overspent last year.

Now, six months into this financial year, in the face of soaring demand for "assisted conception" it has already exhausted its allocation for referrals. In short, the money for this treatment has run out.

But, cruel though this may be for the couples caught on the wrong side of this cash barrier, there can be no grounds for the authority plunging into yet another overspend in order to purchase more fertility treatment when that would mean raiding resources for patients who are ill and awaiting treatment.

That would only replace one waiting list with another and favour people who are not sick while disadvantaging those who are.

However, while this unfortunate situation exposes the unwelcome fact of the rationing and prioritising of health care - and health bosses are not to be envied as they grapple with the realities - there are, perhaps, resources in the NHS which can be safely raided and switched to both purchasing and providing health trusts when their budgets come under pressure like this.

For cannot ministers and NHS chiefs tap those fundholding GP practices which have surpluses - amounting to millions of pounds nationwide?

Many childless couples having had the NHS door slammed in their face - albeit for sound reasons - will be wondering why not.

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