ART Centre Certification

Since its foundation, one of ESHRE’s main goals has been the promotion of and improvement in, clinical practice, organising teaching and training activities and providing guidance to improve safety and quality assurance in clinical and laboratory procedures.

Following the success of professional certification programmes for individuals, ESHRE has developed a unique certification programme for centres based on their clinical activities and on their safety and quality standards.

Following a careful evaluation of clearly defined criteria and a site visit, specifically trained inspectors/assessors will verify if centres comply with the standards recommended by ESHRE and will provide advice for continuous improvement.

This innovative certification programme will be extremely useful for centres, recognising their total quality management strategy and distinguishing them from non-certified centres. The ESHRE certificate will provide an enhanced level of assurance towards the safety and quality for patients approaching ART treatments, reassuring them about the standard of services provided.

How the programme works

Centres interested in obtaining certification should submit their applications through the dedicated section of ESHRE website. Central Office will process all applications and will manage all subsequent steps of the procedure.

A multidisciplinary team of inspectors/assessors will examine information provided, and based on them, a site visit will be scheduled to check whether centres comply with ESHRE’s safety and quality standards.
If all criteria are met, applicant centres will receive the ESHRE certification.

In the initial phase of the programme, only European centres according to the list in the bylaws (page 56) will be entitled to apply.

Why would clinics do it?

There are several reasons why centres should enter this International Certificate of Good Medical Practice programme. Firstly, it is a useful tool in terms of Total Quality Management and continuous improvement. Secondly, it is an objective quality assessment useful for patients, professionals and potential partner institutions, as the list of certified centres is publicly available on ESHRE’s webpage. Finally, certified centres will be invited to attend an annual meeting of Certified Centers during ESHRE’s Annual Meeting.

Disclaimer

While the certification by ESHRE® is based on compliance with certain objective criteria at a given point in time, certification cannot -  under any circumstance - be a guarantee for successful future treatments. ESHRE®, its agents or any of its personnel shall not be liable, in any way, for (in)direct or consequential damages that might occur following the certification (such as - but not limited to - damage to third parties).