Heal Fertility is due to resume all 17 of its licensed treatment services on 6 October, after the Council on Human Reproductive Technology approved the clinic’s remedial work following an embryo-sample mix-up. The Department of Health will also lift its order preventing the clinic from accepting new assisted-reproductive-technology patients.
The council had suspended 14 services from 8 July, leaving the clinic able to provide only three services connected with gamete or embryo storage while the incident was investigated. Nine embryo-biopsy tissue samples sent to a university diagnostic centre included eight that did not belong to the parents in the case.
Police initially suspected that a member of staff had made an error while taking the samples and tried to conceal it with false explanations. The Council on Human Reproductive Technology later said a staff member involved in the incident had left the clinic, which had recruited and trained replacement staff. The council had accepted in September that deliberate unlawful conduct might have been involved and required further improvements.
A surprise inspection on 22 September examined the clinic’s response. The council said it was satisfied that Heal Fertility had improved its internal sample-handling procedures, strengthened staff training and upgraded laboratory management and security. The changes included additional CCTV, biometric security and improved systems for identifying and verifying samples; RTHK reported that biometric locks had been installed on cryostorage tanks.
RTHK also reported that the Department of Health’s investigation found the clinic had failed to notify it within the mandatory 24-hour period and had not complied with the Code of Practice on the timely reporting of serious untoward events. The council said it would continue to closely monitor Heal Fertility’s performance.