The HFEA's newsletter on fertility treatment data |
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Welcome to the fourth ‘Data research update’ newsletter from the HFEA! |
Previous editions are available to read here. |
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New HFEA report – National Patient Survey 2024 |
We recently published the results of the HFEA’s National Patient Survey 2024. The survey explored the patient experience of fertility treatment in the UK, highlighting how it has changed over the last decade.
Findings show that patient satisfaction has stayed at over 70% for the last decade – although this was substantially lower for Asian (50%) and Black (59%) patients, as well as being lower for those over 40 years of age (67%).
NHS-funded patients are reporting longer wait times before starting treatment after speaking to a GP, with only 35% starting treatment within a year compared to 53% of patients who are paying for their own treatment. Concerningly, almost three-quarters of patients (73%) used an additional test, treatment or emerging technology during treatment although most have insufficient evidence of increasing chances of success. Responses to the survey have provided valuable evidence of the experience and views of 1,500 fertility patients and will inform our future work, as well as wider conversations about UK healthcare. Visit our website to read the full report and access the underlying dataset, downloadable at the top of the report. |
Upcoming HFEA publications |
Fertility treatment 2023: preliminary trends and figures
The next HFEA data report is our annual update on the number and type of patients treated, the different treatments they had, and the pregnancy and birth rates of fertility treatments. The report is due to be published in Summer 2025, following our Fertility treatment 2022: preliminary trends and figures report, published in 2024. The HFEA dashboard will be updated at the same time to include the latest data.
State of the fertility sector 2024/25
The ‘State of the fertility sector’ report is published annually, compiled from information gathered from our inspections and other sources, including patient feedback. The next update is due to be published in Autumn 2025, following our previous edition of the report, published in 2024.
Visit our website to read all previous editions and access our other publications. |
HFEA webinar - Accessing the UK national fertility register for research |
The HFEA hosted our first webinar aimed at researchers interested in accessing data from the UK national fertility register. The webinar provided an overview of ‘the Register’, covering the information the HFEA holds, data structure, strengths and limitations of the data, examples of research carried out, and requirements in accessing the data. This session was designed for all researchers who are interested in our data, including clinical, public health and social scientists.
Watch the recording below, and visit our data research webpage for more information. |
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Updates from the HFEA Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee (SCAAC) |
The Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee (SCAAC) met on 3 February to conduct an annual review of the priority list of horizon scanning topics and agree their workplan for 2025/26.
This horizon scanning process considered recent emerging developments in research and technology relevant to fertility treatment and embryo research. The updated list of prioritised topics and the committee’s workplan for the year ahead are available in the meeting minutes.
Further details of this and previous meetings, including agendas, papers and minutes are available on the SCAAC webpage. |
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Recent HFEA presentations and publications on national fertility register data |
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Research publications using HFEA register data |
A list of publications issued in the last year can be found below, with earlier papers found on our website. We rely on researchers to let us know when they have published research using HFEA data. If you have a publication to contribute to the bibliography, please contact us at register.research@hfea.gov.uk.
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Kondowe, F.J.M., Gittins, M., Clayton, P., Brison, D.R., & Roberts, S.A. (2025) Bias due to non-consent in assisted reproductive treatment cohort studies: consent for disclosure to non-contact research in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority register. Human Reproduction. deaf045.
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Williams, C.L., Bunch, K.J., Stiller, C., Murphy, M.F.G., Botting, B.J., Davies, M.C., Luke, B., Lupo, P.J., & Sutcliffe, A.G. (2024) Langerhans cell histiocytosis in children born after assisted reproductive technology. Reproductive BioMedicine Online, 49(6).
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Other publications using HFEA data, including the anonymised dataset |
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Zhang, Y., Jia, Q., Liu, Y., & Guan, Y. (2025) Insemination methods for embryos transferred in frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles do not impact reproductive outcomes in couples with non-male factor infertility. Scientific Reports, 15, 13630
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Tighe, J., Broughton, S., Roberts, R., Kasaven, L. S., Cutting, R., Bridges, E., Ng, A., Evans, A., Theodorou, E., Ben Nagi, J., & Jones, B. P. (2025). Effectiveness and safety of consecutive single embryo transfer compared to double embryo transfer: results from the UK HFEA registry. Human reproduction, deaf028.
- Datta, A.K., Campbell, S., Diaz-Fernandez, R., & Nargund, G. (2024) Livebirth rates are influenced by an interaction between male and female partners’ age: analysis of 59 951 fresh IVF/ICSI cycles with and without male infertility. Human Reproduction, 39(11).
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Paffoni, A., Vitagliano, A., Corti, L., Somigliana, E., & Viganò, P. (2024) Intracytoplasmic sperm injection versus conventional in vitro insemination in couples with non-male infertility factor in the ‘real-world’ setting: analysis of the HFEA registry. Journal of Translational Medicine, 22(687).
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Editorial statement
Data research update is an official electronic newsletter of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, is produced by the HFEA and provides a roundup of news and information on the Register data and Register Research Panel activity. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior permission. You can view our privacy policy on our website.
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