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28 July 2005

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the UK regulator for fertility treatment, is looking to reduce the risks of fertility treatment and improve outcomes for patients by reviewing the clinical practice around the number of embryos transferred during fertility treatment.

The review will look at whether the UK should follow the model of some other European countries which regularly only transfer one embryo back to a woman following IVF, rather than the two or even three that are currently transferred in UK clinics.

The HFEA will be working closely with the sector's professional bodies, including the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the British Fertility Society and the Association of Clinical Embryologists, together with individual clinicians and will bring a group of experts including patient representatives together to look at these issues.

The project will draw on experience from across Europe to look for a way forward that is appropriate to the UK sector and, most importantly, the needs of UK fertility patients.

The HFEA announced the work to the profession at a seminar in Manchester organised by Dr Brian Lieberman of the city's St Mary's Hospital.

HFEA Chief Executive Angela McNab, said:

 "We know that the biggest risk from fertility treatment is caused by multiple births – having twins or triplets – and this is a risk both to the mother and to the children born.

"Multiple births are more likely to be premature and the babies below normal birth weight. This can have profound implications for the children's health and development in the years to come.

"We also know that twins or triplets are much more likely to have cerebal palsy, to die around the time of birth or for there to be other complications during pregnancy.

"And we must not forget the physical and emotional strain that it can put on a family bringing up more than one young child of the same age at the same time. We certainly know that multiple births place a substantial strain on the NHS.  Researchers have shown it costs ten times more to care for a set of triplets in the first year of their life than for a single baby and these higher costs of care can continue throughout a child's life.

"Women are designed to have healthy babies, one at a time, and with natural conception this is what usually happens. The HFEA wants to see the results of fertility treatment come closer to what occurs naturally."

Angela added:

"We have seen a lot of research come through recently from Europe, particularly northern European countries where there is substantial state funding of Single Embryo Transfer.

"But we know we have a different model of provision for fertility treatment in the UK and we need to ensure that any changes for the future would suit what is going on in this country.

"We would not want to see any changes that would have a negative impact on the current fertility services in the UK or on the treatment of our patients. Our aim is to build a consensus across the fertility sector, Primary Care Trusts and other commissioners of services to build a model which acts in the best interests of patients."

The HFEA will be bringing together the expert group to look at Single Embryo Transfer over the summer and will hope to start work on the project in the early autumn.

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Notes to editors

The most recent figures for embryo transfers in the UK (2002–03) are:

• Single embryo transfer 9.1%
• Two-embryo transfer 76.1%
• Three-embryo transfer 14.8%

In January 2004 the HFEA introduced a policy that clinics may only transfer a maximum of two embryos to women under 40 and a maximum of three embryos in women 40 and over. This will have seen a further reduction in three-embryo transfer from the figures above.

The most recent figures (2002-03) show that, for IVF births:

• 75.9%  are singletons
• 23.6% are twins
• 0.5% are triplets or more

The HFEA is the independent regulator for IVF treatment and embryo research. Our role is to protect patients and the public interest, to drive improvement in the treatment and research sectors and to provide information to the public and policymakers about treatment and research.

The HFEA was set up in August 1991 as part of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. The HFEA's principal tasks are to license and monitor clinics that carry out in vitro fertilisation (IVF), donor insemination (DI) and human embryo research. The HFEA also regulates the storage of gametes (eggs and sperm) and embryos.

Page last updated: 11 March 2009

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