9 December 2009

The Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority (HFEA) enjoys going public these days, and CORE whenever possible tries to attend their open meetings, which are either conducted by the full Authority or one of its sub-committees. Such events are aimed at interested parties, whether patients, practitioners, or professionals various, but also the general public.

Sadly the HFEA’s enthusiasm for public engagement is not always rewarded with a large or varied audience, but CORE suspects that the problem is primarily one of communication. The vast majority of people in the United Kingdom has probably never heard of the HFEA, let alone know that these public meetings are actually taking place.

There were, for example, a mere 13 dutiful participants in the audience at an Open Meeting of the Authority in Newcastle on December 9 last year, and taking away a couple of DOH folk, a lonely PhD student, and one Newcastle professional, the rest were simply the usual suspects, including CORE.