SECOND fertility clinic rocked by frozen egg scandal as dozens of women may now never have children
The Jessop Fertility clinic in Sheffield used the same faulty product that destroyed the frozen eggs of 136 women in London
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A second fertility clinic has been named in the frozen egg scandal that may have robbed dozens women of their chance of having children.
The Jessop Fertility clinic in Sheffield used the same faulty product that destroyed the frozen eggs of 136 women at Guy’s and St Thomas' NHS Trust in London, regulators have revealed.
The London trust confirmed dozens of their patients may have lost the chance to become biological parents due to an error with freezing solution, but no patients of the Sheffield clinic lost out on their chance.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) will only be investigating at St Thomas’ Assisted Conception Unit.
None of the patients in the Sheffield clinic have lost out on their chance of having children
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Rachel Cutting, director of compliance at HFEA, said: "We are satisfied that Jessop’s undertook a thorough investigation when they first became aware of the issue and contacted and supported any patient affected."
HFEA assured that any affected patients will have been notified.
Dr Jennifer Hill, Medical Director, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “We began a thorough patient review as soon as the product recall notice was issued.
"We have robust tracing processes in our laboratories and so we were able to identify that there were 29 people who had eggs or embryos frozen in the period when we used the particular product batch.
"We can confirm that 28 of those did not have the faulty fluid used to freeze their eggs or embryos. The remaining person was contacted at the time and did not require further actions to be taken.”
It comes after Guy's Hospital in London contacted 136 women after discovering its NHS-operated clinic may have inadvertently used some bottles of a faulty freezing solution in September and October 2022.
It is understood that many of the affected women affected have subsequently had cancer treatment, meaning they now may be unable to conceive with their own eggs.
Furthermore, the year-long delay between between the hospital finding out about the error in March last year to the women being told may mean that many have missed their fertility window.
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A faulty freezing solution likely damaged the eggs of more than 130 women at NHS-operated fertility clinic in LondonPAA Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said the manufacturing issue may adversely impact the chance of a frozen egg or embryo surviving during thawing.
"We were made aware of a manufacturing issue with some bottles of a solution that may have been used to freeze eggs and embryos in our Assisted Conception Unit in September and October 2022," they said.
They added that Guy's Hospital has now contacted all those affected and apologised for the delay and any distress the error may have caused.
The Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority (HFEA) said a safety notice about the faulty freezing system had been issued to all registered clinics in February 2023 - however the Guy's Hospital clinic still used the faulty solution several months later.
The HFEA has launched an officiail investigation into the matter.