Consultation on changes to the HFEA Code of Practice now open for your comments

The purpose of the new edition of the Code is to provide all staff at licensed clinics with a clear and up-to-date reference point about the HFEA’s expectations in relation to interpreting the law that governs all our work.

The new edition includes some wide-ranging revisions, particularly around leadership, patient support and information provision for patients. This consultation seeks your views on our updated guidance in the following key areas:

• Leadership
• Patient support
• Information provision to patients
• Extension of storage
• Consent
• Screening
• Egg sharing
• Ovarian Hyperstimulation syndrome
• Surrogacy
• Data Protection

We are grateful to the many professionals who have already informed the HFEA’s development of this draft new Edition: at the workshops we held earlier in the year in London, Manchester, Bristol and Edinburgh, and via the HFEA’s working group on the Code of Practice review, and the HFEA’s ongoing engagement with the professional membership bodies and licensed clinic staff.

How to give us your comment:

• The consultation is available online as a web-based survey at www.surveymonkey.com. This includes excerpts from the new draft Code for comment.
• The same consultation survey questions and Code excerpts are also available in PDF format, which can be emailed back to the HFEA at enquiriesteam@hfea.gov.uk
• The updated draft Code is available to view in full (with the proposed revisions highlighted).

If you have any questions about the consultation or the new edition of the Code, please contact Erin Barton at the HFEA on erin.barton@hfea.gov.uk