HFEA statement about an incident at IVF Wales
15 June 2009
HFEA Chief Executive Alan Doran said:
“We have great sympathy for the two couples involved in this incident at IVF Wales. This event shows just how important and central fertility treatment is to peoples lives.
“HFEA takes incidents very seriously. There is a robust procedure in place for reporting and, where appropriate, investigating incidents. IVF Wales informed us of the incident on 5 December 2007 and an inspection was carried out two days later. The clinic has acted on the recommendations made. A scheduled inspection which took place in March 2008 examined the measures the clinics had put in place and an HFEA licence committee concluded that the clinics licence should continue with no additional conditions.
“Our Code of Practice makes it clear that clinics must have witnessing protocols in place to double check the identification of sperm, eggs and embryos and the patients or donors to whom they belong.
“IVF Wales has taken this incident very seriously and, for our part, they have responded constructively to the recommendations made.
“Out of more than 50,000 cycles of treatment, 0.5 per cent resulted in an incident. Very few of these incidents are as serious as the one at IVF Wales. It is impossible to eliminate human error. We strongly encourage clinics to report all incidents and near misses, so that we can help them learn from their mistakes and to spread best practice across the sector.”
Related links:
Page last updated: 15 June 2009