AN infertile couple who desperately long for a baby have accused Wiltshire Health Authority of robbing them of the chance to make their dream come true.

Karryne and Simon Hodgkinson, of Livery Road, West Winterslow, cannot have IVF treatment on the NHS because Wiltshire will not fund the procedure.

Under the current 'postcode lottery' system, individual health authorities have the right to choose whether or not to fund infertile couples' attempts to conceive.

An announcement by health minister Alan Milburn that, from next year, everyone will have the right to IVF on the NHS, has come just too late for Mrs Hodgkinson (38).

She said: "There will have to be an upper age limit for the treatment. Next year will be too late for me.

"I will be 39 and I know that typical cut-off points for other schemes are 35 and 38.

"After I turn 40, my chances of falling pregnant will plummet to something like one in 10,000."

Mr Hodgkinson (33) is a chicken farm manager. Mrs Hodgkinson, a former nurse and nanny, works part-time at Salisbury District Hospital.

The couple say that the cost of between £2,000 and £5,000 per try if they go private is way out of their league - and the fact that free IVF is available just down the road in Southampton and Bournemouth adds insult to injury.

Mrs Hodgkinson said: "Ours is the one condition that consultants can't refer you for. It is frustrating for them, as well as for us."

She is now taking the advice of her consultant and ploughing all her spare energy into campaigning for a fair deal for Wiltshire's childless couples.