HFEA launches online consultative panel to seek views from the 1,750,000 couples who may have difficulty conceiving in the UK
02 June 2005
The HFEA is launching Fertility Views, an online consultative panel aimed at gaining the views and experiences of people throughout the UK who have had, are undergoing or preparing for fertility treatment to help improve the quality of services across the UK.
An estimated 1 in 7 couples are having some sort of fertility problem – approximately 1,750,000 across the UK – and we are asking people to sign up to this consultative panel so we can find out what they want and need from the fertility sector.
Fertility Views will bring together the experiences of people at every stage in the fertility treatment process – from initial concerns to treatment itself to those who have completed the treatment process. In particular it will give them a chance to comment on and shape the broader policy issues affecting the fertility sector as a whole.
People taking part in the Fertility Views panel will be contacted roughly every three months to ask questions regarding their experiences, values and the information and support they need as fertility patients. The panel is being run in conjunction with research experts Opinion Leader Research and will be balanced to provide a representative sample of people's experiences and opinions from all over the UK, with participants varying in terms of age, gender, location, ethnicity and other lifestyle factors.
The information supplied by panel members will be kept entirely confidential and will be used by the HFEA in its work to ensure high standards in fertility treatment and information for patients. Fertility Views is designed to deal with the broader issues affecting fertility treatment and does not deal with details of individual cases. The HFEA has an existing process for dealing with patient complaints which handles such concerns.
The panel is open to anyone who is having or is considering fertility treatment, along with people who have had treatment in the past. To register for the panel, or for more information please go to Fertility Views.
Suzi Leather, Chair of the HFEA,said:
"The people who are most affected by the work of the fertility sector are those people who are seeking, or have received treatment."
"Many thousands of people every year discover that they have some sort of fertility problem and if we are to ensure that the HFEA, as regulator for the UK's fertility sector, continues to develop and flourish then it is important that we learn from their experiences."
"Very often patients don't want raise broader issues with their clinics which aren't directly related to their individual treatment. But they do have a point of view to put across or raise a broader issue which concerns them."
"This confidential online panel will enable past, current or prospective patients to tell the HFEA about their views and concerns on the wider issues. It will help us at the HFEA to ensure that fertility treatment in the UK develops and to build their experiences into our day-to-day regulatory work. "
"We know that people lead busy lives but we know that they want to be heard. We are appealing for anyone with experience of fertility problems or fertility treatment to sign up to Fertility Views. This simple, online panel is designed to make it as easy as possible for people to participate without taking up too much of their time. "
"The information that we gather from this will be invaluable in making sure that our world-leading fertility sector continues to develop and improve."
Ends
Notes to editors
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.
For further information please contact the HFEA press office.
Page last updated: 11 March 2009