Clare Clayton, 52, was devastated when she was told her daughter Hannah Clayton, who has postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS), would no longer be able to receive the treatment she had been getting for around a year.

Saline fluid infusions helped ease 24-year-old Miss Clayton’s symptoms of brain fog, which causes her to get so confused she can’t recognise her own mum. The NHS withdrew the treatment starting from July 2 due to fears it only worked in the short-term.

Mrs Clayton said on the advice of a distressed cardiologist, she enquired about getting the infusions privately.

“We were given the name of a nurse who does it privately,” Mrs Clayton said. “But it was £150 for a 1.5-litre bag infusion, and that’s with a 20 per cent discount. Hannah needs four litres a week. There’s no chance of us doing that three, four times a week.”

Mrs Clayton said her daughter, who has autism and struggles to communicate even when receiving the treatment, has had her antidepressant dosages increased and has seen a therapist to help with her mental health.

“She is angry and upset,” Mrs Clayton said. “She feels very let down and doesn’t understand why it’s been taken away. And she knows what the future will be; bedridden, losing the ability to speak properly, to think properly. It is very worrying for us all really.”

Mrs Clayton believes that the increased medication and therapy her daughter needs may outweigh the cost of the original treatment that she said was ‘life-changing’.

“They won’t be saving money in the long run because of how much more medication she’ll be on,” she said.

According to the British Heart Foundation, the most common symptoms of PoTS are feeling lightheaded or dizzy, palpitations and fatigue. Brain fog affects Miss Clayton the most, but others have also reported persistent fainting.

A spokesperson for York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “The trust has finite capacity and routinely must prioritise treatments, both for symptom relief and with curative intent, for patients with a wide range of conditions.

“We have carefully considered the clinical rationale for IV fluids for symptom relief for patients suffering from POTS. The evidence supporting this treatment only does so as a short-term measure and as such the trust has taken the difficult decision that this treatment can no longer be offered.

“We don’t take these decisions lightly and we are sorry for the inconvenience and distress that this causes for patients.”

Yorkshire mother shocked after NHS withdraw daughter's treatment for heart condition - forcing her to go private