The HFEA Fertility Report 2025: Insights From The Amilis Team

The stats are in 👩🏻‍🔬, and it’s time we decode them.

The HFEA periodically surveys fertility patients in the UK to understand their experience across GP services, choosing a clinic, tests and treatments and new technologies. 

The HFEA ran the National Patient Survey 2024 from 2 September to 9 October 2024. The survey was open to anyone who had undergone fertility treatment in the UK, including patients, partners, intended parents and surrogates.

And now that results are in- let’s take a look at how the fertility space in the UK really is, what we need to improve on, and how we can bridge the gap.

Statistics from the Patient Survey: A Breakdown

🕝Starting treatment

It was found that patients most commonly began treatment between 7 and 12 months after speaking to a GP. However, 16% waited more than two years. 

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Half of those having treatment privately started treatment within a year, while only 35% of NHS-funded patients had started treatment during that same period.

Almost 60% reported waiting for referrals, appointments and/or tests or needing further tests or surgery as a reason for a delay in starting treatment. These delays were likely to have occurred prior to a patient entering a clinic.

A higher proportion of NHS patients reported this than private patients. This could be a knock-on effect of the current wait times for gynaecology services, where over three-quarters of a million people are waiting months to years.

📈 Satisfaction with various aspects of treatment 

Patients reported higher levels of satisfaction with respect to consent, and whether they were treated with dignity and respect. 

Single patients were also more likely to be satisfied with the empathy, understanding and level of support given- partly due to clinics now requiring counselling for those going for donor, egg or sperm.

🏥 Choosing a clinic 

Turns out, location remains the most important factor for patients when choosing a clinic. However, cost was recorded as more important for Black patients and single patients. This may also be due to the lower levels of NHS funding among these patient groups.

Choosing a clinic that specialises in supporting LGBTQIA+ patients was the second most important factor for patients in female same-sex and gender diverse couples.

✨How Amilis is bridging this gap

At Amilis, we've always prioritised this for our patients. Our clinic comparator helps patients choose a clinic that's near them, based on the location or the nearest tube station.

Additionally, we also have a section that helps patients prioritise clinics that are LGBTQIA+ friendly, easing the process for them.

Take me there

💰NHS funding

It was found that patients commonly criticised the access criteria and provision of NHS funding, with the allocation of funding based on Body Mass Index (BMI), location, sexuality or relationship status particularly viewed as unfair. 

Many viewed the cost of treatment as a barrier to access, with patients having to “decide if they can afford a baby”. 

While some felt as though paying more meant a higher quality of care, others found this an additional source of stress or that the process was more about “making money”. 

Some NHS-funded patients felt that their funding status meant that they were viewed as less important than private patients, leaving them feeling “neglected”.

🫂Empathy and care

Some patients felt that infertility was treated as “routine” by staff, when patients associate it with “shame” and “anxiety”. 

Where patients felt they were treated with empathy or support, they were more likely to convey a positive experience. 

Some patients attributed a lack of empathy or support specifically to their personal circumstances, particularly same-sex female couples, single, older, or Black patients. This led to patients feeling “disregarded” by their clinic.

🤝Transparency 

The ability to contact their clinic, and how information was shared was important to many patients. Patients also valued the opportunity to provide feedback or discuss any questions they may have with clinic staff.

Lastly, a lack of, inconsistent, or “generic” information on success rates, add-ons, donor family limits or the cost of treatment was raised. This lack of information was often viewed as a lack of transparency and led to patients experiencing uncertainty, frustration or distress.

✨How Amilis is bridging this gap

At Amilis, we believe transparency in terms of the treatment and costs is paramount. One such tool we've created to make this accessible to patients is our clinic comparator:

This tool provides a breakdown of treatment costs, how the costs would vary based on the cycles, or egg sharing programmes and the discounts that you get via Amilis.

Take me there

🧪Emerging treatments

Many chose to have an additional test, treatment or technology based on clinic recommendation. Additionally, over half of patients said that their clinic explained how effective they were at increasing the chance of having a baby and evidence of supporting its use. Around half of patients had read information available on the HFEA website.

However, only 27% reported that their clinic referenced HFEA information on treatment add-ons.

Meanwhile, 28% of patients using additional tests, treatments, or technologies did not report understanding why it was used. 

From the recent survey, we see how elective freeze all cycles (egg or embryo freezing) and AI usage has increased compared to previous years. 

🥚Donor samples

Around a quarter of respondents had used donor eggs, sperm or embryos, with donor sperm being most common.

When asked how easy it had been to access donor gametes, 70% of those using donor sperm felt access had been easy, compared to only 59% of those using donor eggs.

Most patients using donor eggs were treated using eggs donated in the UK, arranged through a UK clinic or donor bank.

How Amilis is Shaping the Future of Fertility in the UK

The survey is a great way to understand the fertility space in the UK, the gaps that exist, and how we can do better.

The Amilis team has had this motive from day one, and seeing how the stats compare to what our mission and goal is- only fuels us further in this journey

We’re set out to reduce waiting times, for patients to get consultations faster, for treatments and diagnosis to not have a year long waiting period, and for fertility care to just be accessible, and affordable.

And our partnerships with clinics to bring you faster appointments, convenient fertility testing at a clinic near you, or those free consultations with our team and fertility experts to guide you on this journey is what we’re here for. Fertility treatments that feel supportive, guided and personalised for you. 

We’re shaping the future of fertility in the UK, one day at a time 💪