Assisted Reproduction Registries and Reporting
RRM Academy Synopsis
No Grade A incidents occurred at UK fertility clinics in 2021/22
Among 104 licensed UK treatment clinics, no Grade A incident occurred in 2021/22, the grade for major harm to many people or severe harm to one. The regulator's annual report also lists 231 non-compliances from 105 inspections. 9 of the 231 were graded critical.
Key Findings
- The HFEA carried out 105 inspections in 2021/22 and identified 231 non-compliances: 107 graded Other, 115 graded Major and 9 graded Critical.
- Clinics reported 793 incidents, including 121 near misses, compared with 548 in 2020/21. The HFEA attributes the rise to a COVID-19 requirement to report all patient hospital admissions.
- Neither 2021/22 nor 2020/21 saw a Grade A incident. Grade B incidents remained consistent with previous years.
- Severe and critical ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), a side effect of the drug treatment used in fresh IVF cycles, was reported in 66 cases, in under 0.1% of cycles.
- The HFEA received 76 patient complaints, down from 88 in 2020/21. Privately owned clinics numbered 62 (60%) of the 104 licensed to provide treatment.
Interpretation
The report is a regulator's annual summary of inspections, incident reports and patient complaints for a single year, so it describes clinic compliance and reported harms. Clinics report their own incidents. The HFEA states that its data are not directly comparable with earlier years and need cautious reading, because COVID-19 disrupted treatment availability in 2020/21 and changed inspection methods. The HFEA reads the small critical share as a sign of high quality of care. The report gives no pregnancy, live birth or diagnostic results, and lists pregnancy outcomes only as a retained inspection theme.
RRM Context
Restorative reproductive medicine evaluates both partners to find and treat the cause of infertility. IVF goes around the cause. The HFEA's inspections cover how clinics run that process, and medicines management and premises led the 2020 interim findings the report cites. A clinic can pass inspection while the underlying cause of a couple's infertility goes undiagnosed.
Abstract
State of the fertility sector 2021/22 is the annual report of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which summarises what the HFEA has seen through its regulatory work during the year. The report is compiled from HFEA inspections and from other sources, including its Register of fertility treatments, incident reports and patient feedback. For 2021/22, the report records 105 inspections and 104 clinics licensed by the HFEA to provide fertility treatment. The report states that the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and changes to the HFEA approach to inspection mean its data is not directly comparable with previous years.
Read the guide
-
ART Registries and Codes of Practice: A Reference for Patients and Clinicians
A global reference to national IVF registries (HFEA, RTAC, ANZARD, Q-IVF, CDC, DIR, JSOG, CARTR Plus, REDLARA, ESHRE EIM, ICMART) and the codes of practice that govern fertility clinics. What each measures, and what they miss.
