Private infertility treatment centers in Britain are set to come under increased scrutiny. These centers have come under scrutiny for exploiting vulnerable couples with their high fees and exaggerated success story claims.
According to fertility expert Lord Winston, many clinics should be blamed for “misleading” their prospective patients by saying their treatments were more successful than they actually were. The ‘exorbitantly’ high prices they charge, and the way they offered treatments abroad to bypass stringent UK guidelines, were also called into question. In particular he singled out The Bridge Clinic, in London, as somewhere that advertised ‘incredible’ figures. He made his comments during a House of Lords debate on the future ‘quangos’ threatened by government cuts.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) said, in response, it will now make clinics ‘take a more responsible approach to patient information’. The HFEA added that this will go some way to helping vulnerable couples gaining a realistic expectation of their chances of having a child.
Lord Winston said, “There are clinics that treat patients for around £3,400 a cycle. It is only when you look at their websites that you see they are charging £1,100 to £3,200 for drugs that should be obtained on contracts at around £500 to £700 per cycle.” He added that some clinics charged up to £915 to freeze embryos, and £325 to store them per year, but that the liquid nitrogen used cost only a few pence per litre. He noted, “Another clinic argues that it has a 30 per cent success rate in women over 40 or 42. That is a biological impossibility given that the implantation rate alone of a patient under 40 is something around 18 per cent per embryo – at best 25 per cent.” He said the site did not say that this was for pregnancy, and not the delivery of a live baby. This, he claimed, did not take into account the vast number of miscarriages these patients went through. He added that the Bridge Clinic, advertised a 71 per cent pregnancy rate for blastocyst treatment and 67 per cent success for pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, he added, “As someone who has been intimately involved with pre-genetic screening of this kind, I find those figures, frankly, quite incredible.”
In reply a spokesman for The Bridge last night said he was ‘surprised’ by the comments, insisting the website information was ‘factual and as up-to-date as possible’.
Each year 40,000 couples undergo treatment, spending an average of £5,000, with some extreme cases paying eight times that amount of £40,000 said the reports. But only 15,000 children are born after the process. And with the NHS slashing its fertility provision it means 30,000 of those couples are turning to private clinics. Lord Winston's comments raised serious questions over the watchdog's performance in controlling standards. The HFEA rejected the criticism that it could not control the costs patients have to bear as 'misplaced'. But a spokesman said, “We are about to launch an initiative to work with centres to take a more responsible approach to patient information.”
Patient charity Infertility Network UK's chief executive Clare Lewis-Jones said it was vital patients were fully informed about the costs of treatment, and urged the HFEA to look into the over-claiming of success rates.
Dr Kevin Lindsay, a specialist in reproduction at the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, in London, said, “As with any business, selected information is often used as an advertising tool and is likely to be misleading if taken at face value. Unfortunately, 'buyer beware' applies.” But Brian Lieberman, a former HFEA member, said that clinics, particularly in London, had to cope with stiff competition and high business costs.
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