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The HFEA's monthly newsletter for clinic staff

April 2025

Reminder: Importance of accurate donor information submission

It is essential that information is submitted accurately when registering a donor with the HFEA through the donor information form.

Identifiers such as full name (including first names, surnames, middle names and previous names), date of birth, NHS/Passport/ID card number and country and town of birth (among others) are used in combination by our algorithm to match donors across the country with donor conceived individuals and their siblings.

If submission errors are made, this may mean that siblings are not accurately matched. This could have significant consequences to donor families and cause distress to those involved. Clinics should therefore have a mechanism in place to ensure no errors are made.

Further detail can be found here.

Authority meeting: 12 March 2025

The latest Authority meeting took place on 12 March 2025.

The Authority discussed the next steps for the multiple births policy, given that the average multiple birth rate in the UK is now 4% and considered four options that had been discussed with our stakeholder groups.

Members were asked to approve the main activities of our business plan for 2025-26 and also received an update on actions taken in response to the 2023 Public Body Review.

You can find minutes and papers for previous and upcoming Authority meetings here and watch the meetings on YouTube here.

Our latest clinical governance summary report

We have published our latest clinical governance summary report that covers some of the reported incidents, common non-compliances identified at inspections and complaints received from July to September 2024.

The aim of this report aims is to highlight key areas of practice where improvements can be made, or where learning and experiences can be shared to benefit other clinics.

To promote learning from inspections we encourage you to use the areas outlined in this report as an opportunity to consider how your clinic might approach these issues.

The HFEA, in line with other healthcare regulatory bodies, promotes an open reporting culture where healthcare professionals are more likely to learn from incidents when they feel safe and secure reporting them internally and externally to the appropriate regulatory bodies.

Updated incident form template

The HFEA incident report form template has been updated to ensure GDPR compliance and to make the form easier to edit.

Please delete any older versions of the incident report form template you may have.

The new version is available here.

Alert reminder

Alert 2025/03 - Class 2 Medicines Recall: Uni Health Distribution Ltd, Utrogestan Vaginal 200mg Capsules (progesterone)

Alert 2025/03 was issued on 2 April 2025

Alert 2025/04 - Field Safety Notice: GE HealthCare Venue Go / Venue Fit Ultrasound systems

Alert 2025/04 was issued on 16 April 2025

If the PR at your clinic did not receive these alerts via email, please contact Business Support at HFEACompliance@HFEA.gov.uk to update your contact details. Please also make sure that the email address alerts are sent from, alert@hfea.gov.uk, has been whitelisted by your IT department.

If there are members of clinic staff, other than your PR, who would also like to receive alerts, then please provide Business Support with their details, using the email address above.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) publish all Field Safety Notices (FSNs) on their website.

For any questions about the content of the Alerts, please contact incident.reporting@hfea.gov.uk.

Did you know?

Interim inspections will always be unannounced unless a centre has been informed otherwise. However, centres requiring a short notice inspection, for example those centres which only operate on specific days or for smaller centres, receive a two-week period of notice. This is communicated with the centre and is at the discretion of the centre's inspection team.

If a key member of the centre's team is not present for an unannounced inspection, arrangements may be made to undertake a virtual meeting following the inspection. Centres should be prepared to be inspected at any time.

Editorial statement

Clinic Focus is the official electronic newsletter of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, is produced by the editorial team of the HFEA and provides a monthly roundup of news and information for clinics and their staff working in the field of fertility treatment.

No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior permission.

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