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22 December 2011

Summary of request

The Authority was asked for information about the number of errors in IVF treatments at Scottish Clinics for the years 2009, 2010 and 2011 and a breakdown of the type of errors involved. 

HFEA response

It may help to give some background to explain the type of information that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) holds with regards to errors in IVF treatments in Scottish Clinics. Under the HFEA’s General Directions 0011, centres licensed by the HFEA must report adverse incidents and near misses to the Authority. The Directions set out the type of incident that must be reported and a copy of them can be found here: http://www.hfea.gov.uk/188.html . Reported incidents are categorised by the Authority as A-C or a ‘near miss’, the most severe being A.

The HFEA does not therefore hold the total number of ‘errors in IVF treatments’, however, it does hold the number of reported incidents as defined by General Directions 0011. The attached document sets out the number of incidents reported by HFEA licensed centres in Scotland to the HFEA during the years 2009-2011. A list of HFEA licensed clinics in Scotland can be found on our online clinic directory at: http://guide.hfea.gov.uk/guide/ . Please note that the number of centres and treatments will vary year to year, which may influence the number of incidents reported.

The data shows an increase in the number C grade incidents. Examples of grade C incidents include: a patient having a clinical procedure moved to a later date as the correct consent forms had not been completed through to a routine testing of an alarm highlighting that a link was not working to the hospital’s switchboard. HFEA licensed centres are encouraged to recognise and report when things go wrong and by doing so they can improve their processes. We welcome the fact that clinics are reporting more incidents and the sector has responded positively to the opportunity to share lessons learned from incidents that have been reviewed and investigated.

In 2010 there were more than 60,000 cycles of IVF, ICSI and DI which entails hundreds of thousands of laboratory procedures. Whilst we take each reported incident seriously and investigate thoroughly, the total number of incidents represents a tiny percentage of all procedures taking place.

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Page last updated: 16 August 2012

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