Apricity Fertility Closure

Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge Excerpts

Wednesday 12th March 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effect of the closure of Apricity Fertility on 1 January on the patients who were undertaking treatment with them.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Baroness Merron) (Lab)]

My Lords, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority advised the department about the closure of Apricity in December. Apricity did not fall under the HFEA’s regulatory remit, as it was only a digital service. I urge anyone seeking fertility treatment to check that the clinic they are using is HFEA licensed. I advise affected patients in this case to check their consumer rights and engage with trading standards, if needed. More broadly, the HFEA is helpfully providing advice.

[Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge (Con)]

My Lords, Apricity Fertility advertised itself as:

“The UK’s Top Virtual IVF Clinic”.


As the Minister pointed out, it was not regulated by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which by law can regulate only UK-licensed fertility clinics, which are the premises where treatments take place. Will the Minister commit to a review of the HFEA’s powers to ensure they are appropriate for digital services?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

As the noble Baroness will be aware, in November 2023 the HFEA published Modernising Fertility Law, in which it made a number of recommendations for urgent change, including around its regulatory powers. I will meet the HFEA chair and CEO tomorrow, and we will further discuss the regulatory challenges that the HFEA faces. I assure the noble Baroness that the Government are currently considering the HFEA’s priorities, including its role with digital clinics such as the one referred to, should an opportunity for legislative reform arise.

NHS App: Medical Records

Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge Excerpts

Tuesday 19th December 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

The noble Lord is absolutely correct on getting that balance right between the two; that is why the NHS has a safeguarding reference group on exactly this, which has been putting in protections as well as messaging patients, telling them to be aware and that they have the opportunity to redact their records if they are concerned. There are other features, such as multi-factor authentication and making sure that, for log-in with facial ID, you cannot have anyone else in the picture, to ensure that people are not being coerced. So, there are a number of measures in place, but I completely agree that we need to keep them under review with user groups checking all the way.

[Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge (Con)]

My Lords, with the abundance of health data available to the NHS, what future technologies are being developed to identify patterns and trends to improve patient outcomes and reduce the pressure on the NHS?