Transcript

These days many of us check out TripAdvisor if we are booking a hotel.  We want to see what people like us think of the service, the staff, the food, the pool…….

It’s a great idea for bed and breakfast, but is the TripAdvisor approach, where consumers are encouraged to give their unvarnished views, the right approach for Fertility Clinics, where life changing decisions are being made?

The UK’s Human Fertility and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has decided to give more prominence to patient views and an event, A Trip Advisor for Fertility Clinics – Would You Recommend It? was held at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in London’s Regent’s Park last month (April 2015) organised by Progress Educational Trust and sponsored by the British Fertility Society, to look at how best to do so.

The HFEA’s plans are consistent with an emphasis on patient choice and patient empowerment in recent health policy. Since 2007, for example, the NHS Choices website has published patient feedback on NHS hospitals and services, in the form of both star ratings and free text. Last year the National Information Board, of which the HFEA is a member, issued proposals which take this approach further.

But such an approach is contentious. TripAdvisor has attracted controversy, with critics questioning its ability to vouch for the honesty and reliability of customer reviews. And since more than half of all fertility treatment in the UK is carried out in the private sector, people writing and reading feedback may be customers as well as patients.

So clinicians, patients, companies and representatives of patients’ organisations gathered at the event to explore the issues. All agreed. that the patient view is very important, and must be reflected, along with metrics such as success rates and inspection reports. Patients want to see what other patients are saying.

But there was also concern expressed that a small numbers of responses could give a misleading impression, that clinics with active public relations staff could ensure good feedback, and that untried and unproven treatments, such as homeopathy, might get the thumbs up from patients despite having no rigorous evidence base.

Speakers were:

• Juliet Tizzard, Director of Strategy and Corporate Affairs at the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority
• Dr Yacoub Khalaf, Member of the the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, and Director and Person Responsible of Guy’s Hospital‘s Assisted Conception Unit
• Susan Seenan, Chief Executive of Infertility Network UK, and Co-Chair of Fertility Fairness
• Antonia Foster, Senior Associate at solicitors, Carter-Ruck

The event was chaired by Professor Adam Balen, Chair of the British Fertility Society, and Consultant in Reproductive Medicine and Surgery at the Leeds Centre for Reproductive Medicine

This is a recording of the event.

Photo by Mehmet Pinarci

Tags: Embryology, HFEA, IVF, TripAdvisor