THE cause of a sudden dip in fertilisation and conception rates at an IVF unit in Glasgow remains unknown, health chiefs have said.
Papers presented at the monthly board meeting of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said the circumstances surrounding a fall in pregnancies at Glasgow Royal Infirmary's Assisted Conception Service were still under review, but no one single issue had been identified as the cause.
The Herald revealed earlier this month that conception rates at the unit had plummeted from around 30% to 15% between September and November.
Building work on the floor above has been suggested as a possible cause of contamination.
The health board has transferred its IVF patients to the private Nuffield hospital in Glasgow for treatment and offered couples who may have been affected by the problem a complimentary cycle of IVF.
An update presented at a board meeting yesterday said: "The service moved off-site in the second week of November 2012 and the review was under way.
"To date no one single issue had been identified as the cause of the downturn in the percentage of fertilisation which would normally be expected, although it was noted that building work was ongoing within this area and that aspect, along with a full review of the clinical aspects of the service, was being considered.
"The practicalities of offering a further cycle to those patients who may have been affected during the period under review would be worked through as soon as possible."
The health board has to submit the findings of its investigation to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which regulates IVF in the UK.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article