Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Earl Howe on 3 December 2010 (WA 492–3) and 17 November (HL2641), to what extent the collection of eggs only at licensed fertility clinics in line with the guidance outlined in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) Code of Practice is already proven to eliminate the incidence of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS); how many clinics they are aware of that had not been licensed by the HFEA, whether in the United Kingdom or anywhere else worldwide, at which the incidence of OHSS was as a direct consequence significantly higher than that previously reported in the journal Human Fertility (volume 10, issue 3, pages 183–7); and how they have assessed the impact of HFEA regulation on OHSS incidence in the absence of an evidence base to predict the cohort of patients that may develop OHSS.
Answer
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that it has not carried out an analysis of the extent to which the collection of eggs at licensed fertility clinics in line with the guidance outlined in the Authority’s Code of Practice is proven to eliminate the incidence of Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS).
The HFEA is not aware of any unlicensed clinics in the United Kingdom which carry out egg collection, intrauterine insemination or in vitro fertilisation. Clinics which administer fertility drugs but do not carry out egg collection, intrauterine insemination or in vitro fertilisation in the United Kingdom are not under the HFEA’s regulatory remit and therefore are not licensed by the HFEA.
The HFEA has also advised that it has not assessed the impact of its policies on the incidence of OHSS.