Statement on the Hampshire case

Date issued: 12 December 2002

Following the conviction at Southampton Crown Court of embryologist Paul Fielding on eight charges of false accounting and three charges of actual bodily harm.

Suzi Leather, HFEA Chair says:

"Since the identification of the problems in Hampshire, the HFEA has reviewed its licensing and inspection procedures and introduced a number of changes to help those in charge identify areas of risk. It has increased the thoroughness of inspections so as to minimise the risk of errors and to increase the chance that irregularities will be detected. Greater attention is now paid to the inspection of laboratory procedures.

The Authority has worked with the Association of Clinical Embryologists to make sure that clinics have the appropriate protocols and checks in place (such as double witnessing) to ensure that the correct embryos or gametes are used."

Ends

Notes for editors

Contacts

For further information please contact the HFEA press office.