You have until 5pm, Friday 28 March 2014 to let them know what you think.
Why should I share my views?
Pink Families encourages you to share your views with the HFEA for two reasons:
1. Sharing your views can help improve the good work the HFEA already does.
2. Sharing your views can help improve access to quality services for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) couples and singles.
The HFEA is asking whether or not it should prioritize “work that explicitly addresses the needs of single women, gay and lesbian couples and ethnic minorities”.
Be part of helping shape the HFEA’s future strategic direction.
What do I have to do?
Here’s how to let them know what you think:
1. Click on this link and read the first page
2. Click next
3. Select the option that best represents who you are and click next
4. Tick the “Donor conception – improving the lifelong experience for donors, donor-conceived people, patients using donor conception, and their wider families” option (as this section of the survey directly addresses LGBTI patients/families) and click next
5. Tick ‘option 6’ as one of your top three priorities and let them know why this is important to you
6. Click next and finish answering the survey in a way that’s right for you
1. Having good experiences of services and having access to providers that can deliver good outcomes is vital to ensuring the growth of families inclusive of LGBTI individuals.
2. Having adequate input from members of the LGBTI community will help ensure regulatory procedures that are responsive to our needs and preferences.
3. We’ve reviewed the HFEA’s Diversity Scheme Document hosted on its website and workforce data related to sexual orientation is missing. It does however report on workforce data related to: age, gender, religion, ethnicity, disability. All of this data dates from 2006.
4. Its statement already indicates that it is thinking about the strategic importance of lesbian and gay couples and individuals, but that it isn’t yet thinking about bisexual, transgender or intersex individuals or couples.
Can I respond if I don’t need fertility treatment?
Anyone can complete their survey. You can complete the survey if you are a fertility patient, a donor, a donor-conceived person, a fertility sector worker, a researcher, a representative of a professional organization, an interested member of the public and a person with a professional interest in the HFEA. Even if you don’t fall into one of these categories you can still answer the survey.
Why do they want to know?
Some organizations develop a draft strategy and then publish it for comment. But, the HFEA is taking a different approach. It is seeking your views early on. It will then draft its strategy in response to your responses. So, this is your chance to let the HFEA know what you think in order to shape its focus, impact and priorities.
What’s the deadline?
You have until 5pm, Friday March 28, 2014 to let the HFEA know what you think.
