Fertility clinic in east London has licence suspended over “significant concerns”

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has ordered the Homerton Fertility Centre in east London to stop any new procedures, after it raised significant concern about its freezing processes.

The independent regulator has suspended the centre’s licence to practise until May 2024, although patients who have already started medication as part of a treatment cycle will be allowed to complete their treatment if they wish to do so. Eggs, embryos, and sperm will also continue to be stored in the clinic.

There have been three separate incidents in the past year in the unit that have resulted in a small number of embryos not surviving or being undetectable, meaning an embryo stored in frozen liquid cannot be found during …