Fertility industry is 'panicking' couples

Fertility clinics are to face tougher checks on counselling patients, amid concerns some couples are being "panicked" into expensive treatment they may not need.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority said yesterday it would introduce a system for regulating clinics which would keep pace with developments in the industry. It will set up criteria against which clinics will be judged, including the quality of counselling offered to prospective patients and the appropriateness of the treatment.

Suzi Leather, the chairman of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, is concerned that couples were being pressured into undergoing tests for fertility problems although they had the ability to conceive naturally if they allowed more time.

Guidelines from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists state tests should start only after a couple has been trying for two years. But Ms Leather, who has three children, said: "An international study found many couples are being panicked into treatment by clinics.

"IVF is expensive and there is ... massive physical strain on the woman. Wherever someone can benefit from fertility treatment for commercial gain there is a risk some people will be pushed into it."