Ministers are under pressure to reform fertility laws after the Mail on Sunday revealed hundreds of couples trying to have a child were left devastated by the sudden closure of a fertility clinic.
MPs have demanded urgent action following the Apricity Fertility scandal, which was not covered by existing fertility regulations.
Patients feared for their embryos and faced delays in their treatment after being told by email just days before Christmas that the London-based clinic would cease all operations from January 1. Follow-up questions were answered automatically.
One couple, who were in the middle of their IVF treatment, said it left them in ‘free fall’ and in ‘blind panic’.
They told the MoS that they had spent Christmas asking: ‘Where are our embryos? What will happen to our treatment and the thousands we have already paid for? We have no more money!
‘There was no warning, no explanation, no notice given. We were both in absolute shock. All dreams of being parents are lost.”
A woman who froze her eggs for an agreed price with Apricity was told she had to pay thousands of pounds more to keep the eggs preserved – or risk losing her chance to have a baby.
MPs have demanded urgent action following the Apricity Fertility scandal, which was not covered by existing fertility regulations (file photo)
Conservative MP Dame Caroline Dinenage, who as health secretary investigated attempts to update fertility regulations, has written to health ministers to urge stricter regulations
Another woman who was about to freeze her eggs says Apricity refused to refund her money after it closed. She only got her money back after a chargeback request from her bank.
Apricity has partnered with major insurers including Axa and Healix, securing £14m of funding in 2022 to support its expansion across the UK and Europe.
However, it was not regulated by the UK’s independent regulator, the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA), as it managed all patient appointments and treatments through an app.
Conservative MP and former Health Secretary 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 these types of companies are regulated.
‘Apricity not only took people’s money, but also people’s highly sensitive private information – at an incredibly emotional time.
‘The fertility industry needs to be much better regulated.’
Ms Dinenage, who as health minister has tried to update fertility regulations, has written to health ministers to push for stricter regulations.
Patients feared for their embryos and faced delays in their treatment after being told by email just days before Christmas that the London-based clinic would halt all operations from January 1 (file photo)
Following the revelation in the Mail on Sunday, Peter Thompson, chief executive of the HFEA, also said the government should update regulations to cover clinics like Apricity. He said patients would never have had to deal with the abrupt lack of notice if it had been regulated.
He told Times Radio: ‘Effectively we are working with the law which is 30 years old.’ He said current law “pre-1990 makes a perfectly reasonable assumption that all medical services are provided in a clinic at a physical location. What we are seeing now at Apricity and some other clinics is that many services are now moving online.”
He said Apricity patients would “reasonably assume that they are covered in some way.” In fact, they noticed that this was not the case. This is a classic case where the law has failed to keep pace with the way modern life is increasingly organised.’
‘IVF is hard enough and the clinic you are registered with should go bankrupt.’
The clinic, whose sudden closure caused ‘financial difficulties’, had a 46 per cent success rate per IVF cycle thanks to AI technology, compared to the UK average of 31 per cent.
A spokesman for Apricity said it “faced sudden and irreversible financial difficulties in December when the planned investment from a new investor was withdrawn.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: ‘We are currently considering advice from the HFEA on priorities for legislative reform covering their regulatory powers.’