IVF treatment is being suspended, jobs shed, medication changed and minor operations at GP surgeries halted as part of an attempt to address financial problems at NHS North Yorkshire and York. The trust has an overspend of almost £18 million, triggering the need for changes to bring its finances back into the black.

This includes the suspension of IVF treatment for couples with fertility problems. Although couples will still go through clinical analysis, none will go to the final stage of treatment between January and the end of March.

A PCT spokesman said the suspension would then be reviewed and a decision made whether to re-start it or not.

Other cost-saving measures include stopping a number of minor operations and procedures currently carried out at GPs’ surgeries. These include vasectomies and colonoscopies which will now only be carried out in hospitals.

Doctors are also being asked to prescribe generic drugs where possible rather than branded medication.

Dr David Fair, of Jorvik Medical Practice in York, said the measures would certainly impact on patients. He said GPs had been asked to review patients receiving dementia medication as their condition may have progressed so far that the drugs were no longer of benefit. He agreed there was some logic in this, but said patients may deteriorate faster if taken off a drug.

He said a review of foodstuffs that coeliac sufferers could be prescribed was also in the offing and there has been talk about doctors reducing the number of dressings they hand out.

Other cost-saving measures include a reduction in management costs through up to 60 posts being made redundant.

Jayne Brown, chief executive of NHS North Yorkshire and York, said: “Nobody should be in any doubt as to the seriousness of the challenges we are facing. We need to take action immediately.

“We have been rigorously monitoring our quality and productivity plans to target areas of non delivery. Alongside this patient activity has increased and a number of our contracts are significantly overspending. We have a statutory obligation to achieve financial balance and our priority is to achieve significant short-term savings while maintaining essential services for patients in North Yorkshire and York.

“We fully appreciate that the decisions we have taken will be unpalatable and I can assure you that every member of the board also finds them unpalatable. We have a duty to secure NHS healthcare for 800,000 residents and we take that responsibility seriously. This means making hard decisions to protect services for the majority.”