Problems at your fertility clinic

What happens if a fertility clinic makes a mistake with my treatment?

Unfortunately, mistakes can happen in any organisation. However, when they happen in a healthcare setting it’s essential that they’re reported to prevent the same mistakes from happening again.

Every fertility clinic must report any incident, including ‘near misses,' to us so that they can learn from the experience and, if necessary, put measures in place to prevent similar incidents in the future.

We produce an annual report on the state of the fertility sector to help all clinics understand where mistakes are being made and to improve the quality of treatment and care you receive.

Read our latest State of the sector report

What can I do if I have a complaint about my clinic?

It’s important to follow your clinic’s complaints procedure before coming to us, as usually the problem can be cleared up directly with the clinic.

If you’ve reached the end of your clinic’s complaints process and are still not happy, you can complain to us. You should normally refer your complaint to us within six months of becoming aware of the problem and we’ll investigate where we can.

Find out more about making a complaint about a fertility clinic

Can I change clinics during treatment?

You can, although it’s much easier to do this between treatment cycles rather than in the middle of a cycle. Once you’ve finished a cycle, any leftover embryos can be moved to your new clinic and you can resume treatment.

If you do have concerns during your cycle, you should raise them with your clinic as soon as possible.

How can I give feedback about my clinic?

We encourage everyone who’s had fertility treatment at a UK licensed clinic in the last 12 months to give a rating on our website, whether their experience was good or bad. You can rate your clinic in six areas, including whether you’d recommend it to friends and family, whether you were treated with empathy and understanding and whether you paid what you expected. Please note, the ratings feature is not designed for people with a complaint – see above for information about that.

Your ratings are invaluable in helping other people decide if a clinic is right for them and helps to create an open and transparent environment for fertility services where patients are in the driving seat. It also encourages clinics to continue to improve their service to ensure their patients’ satisfaction is reflected in their ratings. Search for your clinic via the link below to give your feedback:

Choose a fertility clinic