Ministers are under pressure to reform fertility laws after The Mail on Sunday revealed hundreds of couples trying to have a baby were left devastated by a fertility clinic’s sudden closure.
MPs have demanded action following the scandal around Apricity Fertility, which was not covered by fertility regulation.
One couple, in the middle of IVF treatment, told the MoS they were ‘in freefall’ and ‘blind panic’ about the closure. One woman who was freezing her eggs with Apricity at an agreed price was told she would need to pay thousands of pounds more to continue treatment.
Apricity was not regulated by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), because it managed appointments and treatment through an app.
MPs have demanded urgent action following the scandal around Apricity Fertility, which was not covered by existing fertility regulation (file photo)
Conservative MP Dame Caroline Dinenage, who as health minister looked into trying to update fertility regulation, has written to health ministers to push for stronger regulations
Tory MP and former heath minister Dame Caroline Dinenage said: ‘This is a classic case of regulation not keeping pace with modern life. We urgently need the Government to look at how companies like this are regulated.’ She has written to health ministers to push for stronger regulations.
Peter Thompson, HFEA CEO, also said the Government needed to update regulation to cover clinics like Apricity. He told Times Radio: ‘Effectively, we’re working with the law which is 30 years old.’
A spokesman for Apricity said it ‘faced sudden and irreversible financial difficulties in December when planned investment from a new investor was withdrawn’.
A Department of Health spokesman said: ‘We are currently considering advice from the HFEA about priorities for law reform covering their regulatory powers.’