The latest HFEA statistics for fertility treatment in Britain show that single women and same-sex couples have the fastest rates of growth in fertility treatments, as well as the highest success rates of all groups.

While most fertility treatments in 2022 (47,000 in total) were had by opposite-sex couples, there was continuing growth in treatments for female same-sex couples and single women. Both are stand-out speciality services at London Women’s Clinic. Same-sex couples and single women also showed a recorded birth rate per embryo transferred of 40% or over, compared with 35% for opposite-sex couples.

As in all IVF treatments, birth rates varied with the age of the female partner. For example, the rates in female same-sex couples were as high as 43% in those aged 18-34, but declined to just 16% in those aged 40-44. ‘This pattern of result is very similar to what we see at London Women’s Clinic,’ said scientific director Dr Kamal Ahuja.

London Women’s Clinic is widely known for offering fertility treatments to diverse patient groups across the UK. Our data shows that one in four patients having IVF at London Women’s Clinic Harley Street between 2020 and 2023 were either single women or same-sex couples (Figure 1). Over this period, the number of same-sex couple treatments grew by 86%, and by 45% for single women (Figure 2).

The HFEA figures also indicate that female same-sex couples and single women now account for a strong majority of donor insemination treatments in Britain (89%), while also showing that routine IVF treatment has increased considerably among both these groups.

With same-sex couples, IVF accounted for 39% of all same-sex couple treatments in 2012, rising to a record high of 58% in 2022. And similarly, IVF accounted for 65% of all treatments for single patients in 2022.

Why the change? From our experience at London Women’s Clinic, and as cited by the HFEA, more patients from both groups seem to be choosing IVF over donor insemination because of its higher birth rates per cycle, lower multiple birth rates, lower overall donor sperm costs (because of fewer treatment cycles) and the possibility of storing embryos for future treatments.

We have also seen higher success rates in same-sex couples and single women than in heterosexual couples, with a birth rate of 73% per patient for same-sex couples, and 50% for single women, compared to 48% for heterosexual couples (Figure 3). We believe the cause of this to be the lower average treatment age for same-sex couples, at 35, compared to an average age of 39.2 for single women and 36.2 for heterosexual couples.

The HFEA also notes how ‘many patients had emphasised the importance to them in choosing an LGBTQIA+ friendly clinic for their fertility treatment’. This is a sentiment shared by London Women’s Clinic, whose Dr Ahuja added: ‘For over 30 years we have championed treatments for LGBT patients by pioneering and publishing research on egg sharing, shared motherhood and treatments with donor sperm and donor eggs. It’s gratifying to us that the growing number of LGBT patients feel safe to trust us with their plans for family formation.’

One treatment accounting for just 0.4% of all IVF treatments in 2022 was surrogacy, a technique initially developed for couples in whom the female partner is unable to carry a pregnancy. However, in 2022 almost two-thirds of the UK’s 230 surrogacy cases were not in opposite-sex couples but in ‘other family types’, of whom most would be same-sex male couples. This too is a specialty treatment at London Women’s Clinic.

One treatment recently completed at London Women’s Clinic will not figure in the data - it has indeed been described as ‘unique’ - is surrogacy treatment for a couple who had both gone through comprehensive medical gender transitions. Their story has now been recorded as a case report in a leading medical journal, and its successful completion involved a whole catalogue of modern fertility approaches: sperm donation, egg freezing, embryo freezing, IVF and surrogacy.

With increasing female age still recognised as the most important indicator of treatment success, the HFEA results note that single patients started IVF later than all other family types - at just over 36 in 2022. This compared to 34 for female same-sex couples and 35 for opposite-sex couples. These ages contrast with national figures for all live births, where the overall average age for first birth in 2022 was 29 years. Those storing eggs by egg freezing were nearly all single patients, making up 89% of all egg storage treatments, a pattern similarly seen in London Women’s Clinic’s own well-established egg-freezing treatments.