Homerton Fertility Centre to reopen after licence ban

The HFEA said it took the decision to suspend the clinic’s licence in March due to the “potential risk to patients, gametes and embryos”.

According to a recent meeting of the regulator’s licensing committee, investigators tried to find out why some embryos could not be found in the solution they were frozen in.

“The independent reviewer took an extremely methodical approach to investigate this incident, however concluded that it was difficult to ascertain a definitive root cause.

“The centre has updated equipment and documentation and put in stringent practices,” the committee said.

The committee said it had received the investigation report into why fewer than the expected number of embryos had survived over a certain time frame in 2023.

The report said “the embryology team were as methodical and focused as they could be with the level of work and number/experience of staff available”.

“Further peer support and learning opportunities for sharing best practice have been made available for staff,” it said.

The full findings of these investigations have not been published, despite repeated requests from the BBC.

The Homerton Hospital clinic has been under a high level of regulatory oversight for several years, with one inspection , externalfinding numerous areas of non-compliance.

The clinic was also forced to close for several months in 2022 due to staff shortages.