The license of a London fertility clinic has been halted by the regulator due to serious worries about its operations.
The HFEA has instructed the Homerton Fertility Centre to pause all new procedures while they conduct investigations.
The medical facility in eastern area of London reported three different occurrences of mistakes in their freezing procedures. As a result, a small number of embryos were lost tragically due to either not being able to survive or becoming undetectable. This refers to embryos that were stored in a liquid solution within a container that cannot be located during the thawing process.
The clinic has notified the impacted patients and expressed apologies for any inconvenience caused.
The Homerton Healthcare NHS foundation trust announced that it initiated an inquiry in late 2023 and promptly informed regulators of the situation. The HFEA is currently conducting its own investigation in conjunction with the trust.
According to the BBC, the clinic has been given permission to carry on with treatment cycles that are already in progress.
The clinic released a statement indicating that although the investigators were unable to identify a specific cause for the errors, they have implemented changes in the unit to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
All employees are now paired up to double-check all clinical tasks with the supervision of two healthcare professionals. The qualifications of staff in the unit have been reassessed and security measures have been strengthened.
The head of the Homerton Fertility Centre, Louise Ashley, stated that the clinic will be sending notifications to all of its fertility patients to apologize for any mistakes and the worries this may have caused. Regardless of whether their eggs, embryos, or sperm were impacted, the clinic will keep them updated.
“Current patients may continue to be treated at the unit despite the licence suspension by the HFEA, and our very dedicated staff are keen to support patients in whatever way they can.”
On Friday, the Metropolitan police responded to the clinic after concerns were brought up by the Homerton healthcare NHS foundation trust. The police clarified that there is currently no ongoing investigation.
According to Peter Thompson, the CEO of the HFEA, the licence for the Homerton Fertility Centre has been suspended with immediate effect due to serious concerns about the clinic. This decision may cause distress to patients currently receiving treatment or those who have stored eggs, sperm or embryos at the clinic.
We have taken steps to allow patients to finish their treatment if they have already begun medication as part of a treatment cycle, in order to avoid interrupting their progress.
In the previous month, many women experienced negative impacts due to the utilization of an unreliable freezing substance at fertility facilities in London and Sheffield.
The HFEA reported a problem at the assisted conception units of Guy’s and St Thomas’ in London and Jessop Fertility in Sheffield. This resulted in the potential destruction of frozen eggs and embryos, which occurred due to a faulty freezing solution provided by CooperSurgical, an American company.
The Sheffield teaching hospitals NHS trust, located where the clinic is situated, reported that they have found 29 individuals who had their eggs or embryos frozen in August 2022 using the specific product batch.
Yet, out of these individuals, only one had the flawed substance used to preserve their eggs or embryos. They were informed and no further measures were deemed necessary.
Guy’s and St Thomas’ released a statement apologizing to 136 women for possible damage to their eggs and embryos that occurred during the freezing process at their clinic, which is operated by the NHS.
The women were notified by the hospital after it was found that a few bottles of the defective freezing solution may have been used unintentionally in September and October 2022. The clinic was unaware of the flaw in the liquid at the time.
Source: theguardian.com
