April 2019 | As in previous years, GameteExpert selects the best performers of andrology and embryology assessment.  This year the three frontrunners for andrology come from Portugal, Israel, and United Kingdom and for embryology from United Kingdom.

The ranking results from inputs of 857 participants of 284 andrology labs and 425 participants of 107 embryology labs. 93% of participants are from Europe and 5% from Asia.

All participants joined the Reproductive Science Scheme of UK NEQAS. GameteExpert collects the input data of this scheme and delivers them to UK NEQAS for external quality assessment and performance reporting.

Independently from UK NEQAS, GameteExpert determines the performance of each participant by calculating the match with calculated consensus. The ranking shown in this newsletter is in no relation to UK NEQAS and without input from them. Consequently, it gives no statement of performance in the UK NEQAS system.

The time-lapse annotation for blastocyst assessment, which was not compulsory for UK NEQAS performance reporting, is included in selection of the best performers.

We considered only participants who have participated completely over the period of last two years.

The UK NEQAS service will be carried out by the Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on behalf of United Kingdom National External Quality Assessment Service (UK NEQAS).

The UK NEQAS  Reproductive Science Scheme, which consists of 4 distributions per annum, offers 2 assessment schemes: Embryology and Andrology.

The best performer of the andrology labs is Paulo Laranjeira.

Paulo is a medical technologist with a master in pharmaceutical sciences working at the Microbiology Department of Medicina Laboratorial Dr. Carlos Torres.

As a small team of three, including two further colleagues Andrea Afonso and Clara Ribeiro, an ISO-accredited diagnostic andrology service is provided.

Since the adoption in 2012 of the 5th WHO laboratory manual for the examination and processing of human semen and the help of GameteExpert and UK-NEQAS a high level of proficiency and standardization has been achieved by the team.

This lab has one basic licence.

The graphic shows the performance of Paulo Laranjeira over last two years (blue curve).

The green and red curves shows the performance of all participants of UK NEQAS reproductive science scheme.

Above the green curve are the best 25% of all participants (top performers), below the red curve
the worse 25% of the group (low performers).

Medicina Laboratorial Dr. Carlos Torres is a major laboratory in Porto, northern Portugal, and offers laboratory medicine services for the general community and private hospitals. Since 2006 it’s a Unilabs company.



 

The second best performer of the andrology laboratories, after the third place in 2017 and second place in 2018, is the team of Dr Shimi Barda who is the laboratory director of the Male fertility and sperm bank unit.

The lab's team consists of 5 technicians: Marina Ilatov, Liat Arieli, Dr Sandra Kleiman, Maggie Fierce-Taub and Shlomit Shabat.

This lab has one basic licence.

The graphic shows the performance of the team over last two years.

The Male fertility and sperm bank unit in the Lis Maternity Hospital is a part of Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv, Israel.

The laboratory performs routine semen analyses, sperm preparation before artificial insemination, sperm cryopreservation, and molecular analyses.

The current research is focused on gene involvement in infertility, impairment in meiosis as a cause for infertility, factor that may improve cryopreservation results.

The third best performer of the andrology laboratories is Dr Tom Connolly, working for IVI Midland.

Tom Connolly is a HCPC registered clinical embryologist who joined the team in 2015. He is responsible for coordinating the sperm donor programme and IQA for semen analysis.

The IVI Midland laboratory team is led by Su Barlow. This lab got also the second place of embryology top performers (see below), and the year before the first and second place of embryology laboratories.

The photograph shows some of the team (from left to right): Gina Aldis (lab manager), Craig Clifford, Su Barlow, Laura Perkins, Laura Edmunds, and Tom Connolly.

This lab has one basic licence and six individual licences.

The graphic shows the performance of Tom Connolly over last two years.

IVI Midland  (formerly Midland Fertility) based in Tamworth, Staffordshire has provided assisted conception services to both private and NHS-funded patients since 1987.

Offering a full service including: IVF, ICSI, Surgical sperm retrieval, vitrification of oocytes & blastocysts, an active egg & sperm donor programme and soon to offer PGS.

The lab team have plenty to keep them busy. IVI Midland is proud of its high success rates, low multiple birth rates and the patient care provided by the experienced staff members.

The IVI Midland laboratories have recently undergone a UKAS inspection for accreditation to ISO 15189 to provide andrology and blood services. The embryology laboratory utilises time-lapse imaging for all patient embryos and performs blastocyst culture.

Top Performers Embryology

The best performer of the embryology laboratories is Dr Catherine Turner (left).

The third best performer is Chelsea Buck (right).

Both are working for St. Mary’s Department of Reproductive Medicine.

Catherine Turner joined the team in 2011 as a trainee on the ACE scheme and achieved HCPC registration in February 2017. She is responsible, alongside Annette Lloyd, for co-ordinating the import and export of gametes and embryos to and from other approved centres and is a STP training officer for one of the unit’s trainee embryologists.

Chelsea Buck joined the team in 2013 as a trainee on the STP, completing the programme and achieving HCPC registration in 2016. In addition to full participation in the daily activities of the lab, she also has shared responsibility for co-ordinating the release and use fresh, research consented embryos and is a STP training officer for one of the unit’s trainee embryologists.ing for Old Saint Mary’s Hospital .

Pictured are some of the embryology team. From left to right: Simona Smutna, Sophie Jurczak, Annette Lloyd, Catherine Turner, Chelsea Buck, Dimitrios Kalleas.

The lab team is led by Helen Hunter and Dr Diane Critchlow (not pictured), with Gregory Horne as PR for the unit.

Two of their senior embryologists, along with members of the andrology department are UKNEQAS Reproductive Science Scheme  organisers and they are also heavily involved in the recruitment, teaching and training provided on the STP.wo of their senior embryologists, along with members of the andrology department are UKNEQAS Reproductive Science Scheme  organisers and they are also heavily involved in the recruitment, teaching and training provided on the STP.

This lab has one basic licence and fiftheen individual licences.
 

The graphic shows the performance of Catherine Turner over last two years (blue curve).

The green and red curves shows the performance of all participants of UK NEQAS reproductive science scheme.

Above the green curve are the best 25% of all participants (top performers).

Below the red curve are the worse 25% of the group (low performers).

This graphic shows the performance of Chelsea Buck.

St. Mary’s Department of Reproductive Medicine  is based in Old Saint Mary’s Hospital, a Victorian landmark on Oxford Road in Manchester, which has been transformed internally into a modern assisted conception facility.

They offer a range of assisted conception services to both fee-paying and NHS patients and are very proud to have been the first Hospital in the UK to offer an NHS IVF service, nurturing the future of families since the beginning.

They have a very active research programme, which operates under a standalone HFEA Research Licence and receive gametes and embryos donated to research from many units across the country, and participate in multi-centre trials and complete approximately 1200 fresh and 700 frozen cycles per year, with a team of 12 embryologists and 7 trainees at various stages of the Scientist Training Programme (STP).

The second best performer of the embryology laboratories is Su Barlow, working for IVI Midland.

Su Barlow is the lab director of IVI Midland and has been an embryologist since 1991, achieving her part time MMedSci in 2000 from the University of Birmingham.

The IVI Midland laboratory team got also the third place of andrology top performers (see above), and the year before the first and second place of embryology laboratories.

 

The photograph shows some of the team (from left to right): Gina Aldis (lab manager), Craig Clifford, Su Barlow, Laura Perkins, Laura Edmunds, and Tom Connolly.

This lab has one basic licence and six individual licences.






 

The graphic shows the performance of Su Barlow over last two years.

IVI Midland  (formerly Midland Fertility) based in Tamworth, Staffordshire has provided assisted conception services to both private and NHS-funded patients since 1987.

Offering a full service including: IVF, ICSI, Surgical sperm retrieval, vitrification of oocytes & blastocysts, an active egg & sperm donor programme and soon to offer PGS.

The lab team have plenty to keep them busy. IVI Midland is proud of its high success rates, low multiple birth rates and the patient care provided by the experienced staff members.

The IVI Midland laboratories have recently undergone a UKAS inspection for accreditation to ISO 15189 to provide andrology and blood services. The embryology laboratory utilises time-lapse imaging for all patient embryos and performs blastocyst culture.