A GLASGOW lesbian couple have been told they would be given help to conceive a baby after an extraordinary U-turn by a health board.

A GLASGOW lesbian couple have been told they would be given help to conceive a baby after an extraordinary U-turn by a health board.

Caroline Harris and Julie McMullan were at the Court of Session in Edinburgh seeking £20,000 damages because the NHS would not help them to have a baby.

They were initially told they were not classified as an infertile couple.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, after sticking to its refusal earlier in the day, last night said the pair would be offered the treatment at an assisted conception unit.

An NHS GGC spokeswoman said "treatment acceptance criteria" had been applied to the couple as they would have been to any other.

She said: "As a couple, these two individuals are biologically incapable of conceiving and the board, therefore, initially took the view that the couple did not meet the necessary criteria to receive NHS-funded treatment.

"The board has, however, reconsidered its position in light of other regulations, including the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Act 2008 and Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) regulations 2007, and has now decided to offer treatment to this couple."

The couple claimed they were victims of discrimination and asked the judge to order fertility treatment for Ms Harris.

There are already 460 couples on a 95-week waiting list for IVF treatment, which costs about £3300.

The Maryhill couple have been in a relationship for seven years and have lived together for two years.

They were seeking a judicial review of the decision to bar them, insisting their rights have been breached.

The couple claim the rules, which they saw after a Freedom of Information Act request, make no reference to any requirements that only an opposite sex couple can get treatment.

But the health board had insisted it had not discriminated on grounds of sexual orientation.

The couple's case stated that in January 2007 their GP told them they would have to pay for private treatment.