New Guide provides national picture and details of UK's Fertility Clinics
24 May 2005
The HFEA Guide to Infertility and directory of clinics 2005 contains the information needed for patients, GPs, Primary Care Trusts and other professionals to make informed choices and decisions about the options for fertility treatment. It was put together with the help of healthcare information experts Dr Foster and produced and developed in consultation with patients and clinicians.
For the first time, the Guide has also been produced as an online, interactive version in which patients may enter in their details and receive tailored information about services and clinics in their area and about particular treatments.
The Guide includes:
- Information about infertility, its causes and the ways of treating it.
- Detailed information about individual treatment centres – including the success rates for various age groups – so people can make considered decisions and informed choices and about treatment options
- ‘Real life' stories about various aspects of treatment, to provide reassurance and demonstrate the treatment options that people can take
- Questions to ask clinicians – so patients can make the most of their consultations
The Guide also puts this information in a broader context with national information about the UK's fertility sector. This includes:
- Information on broad categories of infertility, showing that half of infertility (49%) has an identifiably male cause – breaking the myth that infertility is a ‘woman's issue'
- Trends in the number of people seeking treatment – showing the number of people having IVF has remained relatively stable since the late 1990s
- Information collected since 1991 when the HFEA was set up shows the success of IVF has risen steadily while the risks (through multiple births) have fallen substantially
- The commonest age for women receiving IVF treatment is 35, but the chances of success fall rapidly from 35 onwards.
Suzi Leather, Chair of the HFEA, said:
"With one in seven people having some difficulty conceiving – almost 3.5 million people across the UK – there is clearly a need for straightforward, independent information about infertility, its causes and the treatment options. Though the majority of these people will go on to get pregnant naturally, their concerns are very real and need addressing. For those who need medical assistance in becoming pregnant this Guide enables them to make better informed choices.
"Our Guide is designed to cut through the jargon and complex science behind high-tech fertility treatments to explain the causes of infertility, the possible treatments available and then give detailed information to let people make informed choices about the options available for them.
"If we think how much time we spend researching and discussing a summer holiday which might cost £400, think how much more agonising there is over a course of IVF treatment which could cost £4,000 or more. But until you've got the brochures and websites to get the information you need, this is very difficult to do. We believe this year's Guide to Infertility will help tackle this.
"When even two out of five GPs are telling us that they don't have enough information about fertility services, it's no surprise that too many people seeking fertility treatment feel left in the dark about the choices open to them at what can be a difficult and emotional time.
"With treatment costing many thousands of pounds, it is right that the people paying for the treatment – the individual or the NHS – should get a proper sense of what they are paying for.
"No other country in the world provides the unique level of information and support found in the 2005 HFEA Guide to Infertility. The Guide provides the breadth of plain-talking advice needed for people who are just starting to learn about the complex issues around infertility.
"This information gives patients or prospective patients the ability to make the most of their consultation with their doctor by helping them to ask informed questions about their individual circumstances and is also an important reference guide for GPs and other professionals who are advising patients on their options.
"In putting the Guide together, we have spent a lot of time talking to patients, doctors and other professionals about the information they need and we believe this will be a major step forward for the millions of people across the UK who may be concerned about infertility."
Ends
Notes to editors
The Guide contains details of all the clinics in the UK which are licensed under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act to carry out in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and donor insemination (DI). Some lower-tech treatments used to tackle infertility – such as drug treatment or surgery – may be carried out by other doctors or hospitals.
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.
About Dr Foster
Dr Foster is the leading independent authority on healthcare quality in the UK. It publishes information which is accessible to the general public and provides information analysis to the professional healthcare community. An independent Ethics Committee with substantial powers to enforce editorial and research integrity oversees the organization.
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For further information please contact the HFEA press office.
Page last updated: 11 March 2009