Were intruders behind the loss of 150 embryos at NHS fertility clinic?
AN NHS fertility clinic has asked police to investigate whether intruders could have ‘gained access’ to its storage facilities after up to 150 frozen embryos were destroyed or lost.
Homerton Fertility Centre in East London has been ordered to shut its doors by the regulator after three major incidents affecting its freezing processes were revealed.
The devastating losses, involving up to 45 patients who had stored their embryos with the hopes of having children at a later date, took place over the past year.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has suspended the clinic’s licence to practise until at least May. The regulator said it was rare for this to happen, but refused to outline its reasons for doing so now.
Past inspection reports revealed ongoing concerns over the clinic’s cryostorage equipment – where frozen embryos are kept – necessitating an exhaustive audit and ‘physical check of the dewars’ [nitrogen containers] in 2022.
Peter Thompson, chief executive of the HFEA, said the decision to suspend the clinic was made because of a ‘potential risk to patients, gametes [sperm] and embryos’. It means the unit will not be able to accept any new bookings for fertility treatment but existing patients can still access its services.
In a letter apologising to patients on Friday, Louise Ashley, chief executive of Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, said the centre had ‘rechecked all competencies of staff within the unit’. She added: ‘We have now had three separate incidents in the last year within the unit, which have highlighted errors in a small number of our freezing processes.
‘Tragically this has, in some cases, resulted in a small number of embryos either not surviving or being undetectable.
‘We have external clinical experts investigating these incidents and, while they have not been able to find any direct cause to explain this, we have made changes in the unit to prevent reoccurrence of such incidents.’
Asked if an intruder could be to blame, a trust spokesman said: ‘We don’t know. We called in our local police... to look at the security of the storage facilities and whether anybody who is not a staff member could have gained access.
‘We believe they were satisfied with the security.’
However Scotland Yard insisted that while officers had visited the premises at the request of the trust, there was ‘no police investigation at this time’.
Asked about the clinic’s history of failings, a spokesman for the regulator said: ‘The Homerton Fertility Centre has been the subject of extensive regulatory oversight in recent years and has been transparent and reported recent incidents in line with our requirements.
‘We are conducting our own investigations and are taking regulatory action as appropriate.’