Homerton Fertility Centre to start phased reopening after investigation

Homerton Fertility Centre will start a phased return to providing fertility treatment in August, after having its licence suspended by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) in March 2024.

This suspension came after three incidents related to egg and embryo freezing were detected at the London clinic between May and December 2023 (see BioNews 1230). Following an investigation of the laboratory's practices comissioned the clinic, the HFEA's Licence Committee has now deemed it safe for the clinic to resume its treatment cycles in phased stages from 8 August 2024, contingent on the clinic  implementing all planned actions.

'The clinic has introduced new ways of working as a result of the investigation. The HFEA's Licence Committee has agreed that a limited number of cycles can be undertaken to allow these new ways of working to "bed in" and ensure staff feel supported,' said Peter Thompson, chief executive of the HFEA.

'The clinic will, therefore, have a phased return to providing treatment. The clinic remains under a heightened degree of regulatory oversight and the HFEA will closely monitor it, including an unannounced inspection within the next six months'.

The Homerton Fertility Centre in Hackney, London, treats private and NHS patients at Homerton University Hospital, and has held a treatment and storage license from the HFEA since 1995.

The clinic was forced to close due to lack of staff in 2022 and then in 2023, three separate incidents were reported: incident A involved incorrect procedures during embryo freezing, incident B involved frozen embryos not surviving thawing, and incident C involved embryos not being found in the solution they were frozen in. These incidents occurred after the HFEA recommended 'the renewal of the centre's treatment and storage licence for a period of three years without additional conditions' at the end of February 2023.

All patients were made aware of the problems involving embryo and egg freezing in a letter in March 2024, after patients directly affected by the problems had been contacted.

Minutes of the licence committee showed that a single root cause of the incidents could not be identified, and that the Homerton Fertility Centre's Serious Incident Investigation Report 'stated that the embryology team were as methodical and focused as they could be with the level of work and number/experience of staff available'. The Report has not yet been published.

'There have been lots of rumours flying around,' Dr Emma Rowland, chief operations officer at Homerton Healthcare NHS Trust told the Health in Hackney scrutiny commission in July, the Hackney Citizen reported. She added the Trust will 'absolutely' be sharing 'what we can' of the investigation's findings publicly, but did not disclose when.