The former director of King’s College Hospital’s internationally acclaimed assisted conception unit, Dr John Parsons, claims to be “an unreconstructed socialist”, but his criticisms last week that private fertility clinics were having a “free for all” at the expense of desperate couples have been echoed by his colleagues. The clinics are “at best exploitative, at worst harmful”, says Yacoub Khalaf, of Guy’s Hospital.

There are, it transpires, three issues at stake here.

First, women in their mid-30s who are trying to conceive are being persuaded to undergo in-vitro fertilisation – even though, given time, they would almost certainly conceive naturally. Next, those whose attempts at IVF have been unsuccessful are being offered “add-ons” – complementary procedures that it is claimed will increase their chances of becoming pregnant. These include checking the embryo has the normal number of chromosomes before it is placed in the womb – genetic screening that apparently “does not significantly improve the chances of a live birth” – and the administration of immunosuppressant drugs to boost the mother’s tolerance of the embryo and reduce the risk of miscarriage, a treatment option described as “widely discredited”. The third issue is the exorbitant expense of it all, with clinics charging up to five times the basic cost (£1,500) for a cycle of IVF and an extra £2,000 on top for add-ons such as genetic screening. So, caveat emptor. There is as yet no TripAdvisor equivalent for fertility clinics, but there is a useful “league table” on the website fertility-clinics.findthebest.co.uk. Those willing to travel to Spain, Greece or Lithuania, where costs are a fraction of those in Britain, should check out fertility.treatmentabroad.com.

French correction

There is more to be gained from speaking a foreign language than being able to engage the locals in conversation. Somewhat bizarrely, it can provide almost complete relief from the repetitive blinking and closure of the eyelids – resulting in functional blindness – known as benign essential blepharospasm.