Fertility clinic to reopen after licence ban

Investigators were not able to establish why some embryos kept at the Homerton Fertility Centre were not found in their freezing solution

A London fertility clinic that was stripped of its licence by inspectors after the "tragic loss" of some frozen embryos can reopen next month, the regulator has said.

The closure in March followed three "serious untoward incidents" in which a number of embryos in storage either did not survive being thawed or "were not found".

The incidents have been investigated and the regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), said it was now "satisfied" the clinic could resume treating patients from 8 August, providing it introduced actions set out by investigators.

The Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Homerton Fertility Centre in Hackney, said it could “give those assurances” and apologised to patients affected.

'Thoroughly investigated'

Trust chief executive Bas Sadiq said: “We would like to apologise again to all the patients affected by the suspension of our fertility services. We are pleased that the HFEA has informed us we can resume work at the fertility centre.

"Our primary focus remains the safe management of our patients. Following the HFEA’s decision, we have begun planning for the gradual resumption of services. We will be reaching out to patients soon with updates.”

The trust said as of April 2024 it had a total of 869 patients, whom it said "have been contacted by various means".

The Homerton Fertility Centre, based at Homerton Hospital, provides fertility treatment such as egg and embryo freezing and IVF to hundreds of NHS and private patients each year.

The trust has said the embryos of 32 patients had either not survived or were untraceable due to the incidents, in May, October and December 2023.

Many other patients awaiting treatment cycles had their plans to try to have children put on hold when the clinic was ordered to close on 7 March.

The NHS trust appointed external investigators to review these incidents and some of the findings have been submitted to the HFEA.

The fertility unit is based at Homerton Hospital, Hackney

Peter Thompson, the regulator's chief executive, said the HFEA was satisfied the clinic could reopen due to changes it has introduced.

“The clinic has introduced new ways of working as a result of the investigation," he said. "The HFEA’s Licence Committee has agreed that a limited number of cycles can be undertaken to allow these new ways of working to ‘bed in’ and ensure staff feel supported.

“The clinic will, therefore, have a phased return to providing treatment. The clinic remains under a heightened degree of regulatory oversight and the HFEA will closely monitor it, including an unannounced inspection within the next six months.

“Incidents in fertility clinics in the UK are rare, but each one is distressing for those patients involved. The HFEA ensures incidents are thoroughly investigated in clinics to make sure that everything is done to understand what went wrong and, crucially, to take steps to ensure it does not happen again.”

The HFEA said it took the decision to suspend the clinic's licence in March due to the "potential risk to patients, gametes and embryos".

According to a recent meeting of the regulator's licensing committee, investigators tried to find out why some embryos could not be found in the solution they were frozen in.

"The independent reviewer took an extremely methodical approach to investigate this incident, however concluded that it was difficult to ascertain a definitive root cause.

"The centre has updated equipment and documentation and put in stringent practices," the committee said.

The committee said it had received the investigation report into why fewer than the expected number of embryos had survived over a certain time frame in 2023.

The report said "the embryology team were as methodical and focused as they could be with the level of work and number/experience of staff available".

"Further peer support and learning opportunities for sharing best practice have been made available for staff," it said.

The full findings of these investigations have not been published, despite repeated requests from the BBC.

The Homerton Hospital clinic has been under a high level of regulatory oversight for several years, with one inspection finding numerous areas of non-compliance.

The clinic was also forced to close for several months in 2022 due to staff shortages.