NHS Basildon and Brentwood Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is considering scrapping funding for IVF treatments at Basildon Hospital as part of a wider service cuts to save £14million.

The group is currently facing a deficit unless it reduces spending and has launched a consultation to cut a number of services, including e-cigarettes, cosmetic procedures such as liposuction and breast enlargements, and simultaneous joint replacements.

John Leslie, the commissioning group's accountable officer, said: "We have a legal duty to live within our means.

"But we are facing a growing gap between how much we receive got local health services each year and how much it is costing.

"This matters because if we don't bring our finances under control, our deficit will continue to grow and we will end up having to make reductions in a greater range of services than we are proposing."

The CCG is not the first to announce service cuts.

In January, Mid Essex CCG decided to stop routine funding of gluten-free foods on prescription and to not routinely fund vasectomy and female sterilisation in mid Essex.

It also decided to only offer funding for gluten-free foods and vasectomy and female sterilisation in clinically exceptional cases.

In May, Southend CCG approved plans to not fund gluten-free food on prescription and in June, Castle Point and Rochford CCG decided that the quantity of prescribed food is reduced by 50 per cent with a plan to stop all prescribing of gluten free food by July 1, 2017.