Fertility clinics have been told to be more transparent over treatment costs.

All clinics licensed by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority have been issued with a new code of practice that requires them to give each patient a costed treatment plan from the outset.

The measure is designed to protect the 70 per cent of IVF patients who pay for their own treatment privately, usually at £3,500 per cycle.

Charges for drugs and diagnostic tests vary widely between clinics and are often not included in initial assessments of how much treatment will cost. Many patients feel obliged to pay these extra fees, which can sometimes exceed a thousand pounds, as they will have already spent thousands on treatment.

“With the majority of people in the UK funding their own treatment, cost is a major concern. The changes to our code will help ensure that patients know upfront exactly how expensive their treatment will be,” Professor Lisa Jardine, HFEA’s chairwoman, said yesterday.

“The UK’s fertility clinics treat thousands of patients each year and are responsible for the safety of these patients, their eggs, sperm and embryos.”

Other changes to the HFEA code of practice include a clearer definition of the need for “supportive parenting”, which clinics must take into account before agreeing to start IVF treatment. The clause replaced the “need for a father”, under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act passed last year.

The code states: “Supportive parenting is a commitment to the health, well being and development of the child. It is presumed that all prospective parents will be supportive parents, in the absence of any reasonable cause for concern that any child who may be born, or any other child, may be at risk of significant harm or neglect. Where centres have concern as to whether this commitment exists, they may wish to take account of wider family and social networks within which the child will be raised.”

The new code also imposes a cooling-off period for couples who have stored IVF embryos but since separated before either can demand the destruction of the embryos. This follows the case of Natallie Evans, who unsuccessfully brought a legal challenge to her former partner’s demand that their embryos be destroyed.

Ms Evans, who was left infertile after cancer treatment, fought a five-year battle to become a mother using frozen embryos, culminating in an unsuccessful appeal in the European Court of Human Rights in 2007.

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