North-East patients seeking fertility treatment face the longest waits.

Couples who want treatment for infertility problems at the Newcastle Fertility Centre at Life may have to wait up to five years, according to their postcodes.

While patients who use the Centre for Assisted Reproduction at Gateshead also face waits of up to 156 weeks for treatment, at least they have one of the best chances in the country of having a baby after IVF (in vitro fertilization).

The Gateshead centre at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital has the second highest success rate in England, with 43.4 per cent of treatment cycles producing live births (for women aged under 35 using fresh cycles of IVF).

Most North-East couples are treated at the Newcastle Fertility Centre at Life, which has a live birth rate of 22 per cent (for women aged under 35 using fresh cycles of IVF).

The only other NHS centre in the North-East to feature in the live birth rate tables is James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, where a 24 per cent live birth rate was recorded.

Patients using James Cook can be treated within eight weeks.