British Fertility Society response to HFEA Inspection
report
7 December 2006
The British Fertility Society (BFS) welcomes the HFEA’s
general conclusion that the majority of clinics are meeting most
of the standards expected by the HFEA, and that they provide a
good service for patients. At the same time we recognise that there
are areas which can be improved, and we and our members will continue
to work with the HFEA to achieve better standards of patient care.
In the UK some 40,000 IVF treatment cycles are carried out every
year and more than 10,000 babies born as a result. With this volume
of work it is inevitable that on a few occasions some patients
may express dissatisfaction with care. Every complaint, including
those alluded to in this report, merits serious attention. The
need to provide patients with comprehensive information about infertility
and its treatment is fundamental to good medical practice and the
principle of a patient-centred approach to infertility care is
something which the BFS has supported for many years. The Society
has in recent times been at the heart of the drive to increase
standards of care for infertile patients and has been pleased to
work closely with the HFEA in standard setting in many areas of
clinical and laboratory practice.
This report provides reassurance to the 1 in 6 couples in our
society, who face infertility problems, that the vast majority
of clinics in the vast majority of instances are doing a good job.
All clinics in the country have, in the past 3 years, been co-operating
with the HFEA in a scheme of sharing information about the rare
instances where clinical or laboratory practice falls short of
the highest standard. Such instances, as with patient complaints,
are very infrequent but the alert scheme now established has allowed
clinics to learn from each other in a positive way.
In any organisation, there is always room for improvement in terms
of delivery of service, communication, efficiency etc. The BFS
continues to work hard with clinics as well as the regulator to
ensure that infertile patients in the UK receive the best possible
care.
For more information: please contact the British Fertility Society press office
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