Accessing publicly funded donor insemination treatment in the UK: is funding information available on fertility clinic websites?

We sought to find out if information about public funding for regulated donor insemination (DI) was available on UK fertility clinic websites, and if so, what information was provided for same-sex couples and single women; and if the available information was easily readable. The ‘Choose a fertility clinic’ pages of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) website were used to identify all licensed fertility clinics in the UK, and any available text on public funding for DI treatment was extracted. The Flesch reading ease scores were calculated to determine the readability of the extracted text. Of the 52 clinics included in the synthesis, 23 mentioned public funding, and for 16 of these, it was unclear whether public funding was available. Six of the 23 clinics mentioned public funding for same-sex couples, and two mentioned public funding for single women. The Flesch reading ease scores indicated that none of the text about funding for DI treatment on any of the clinic websites met the NHS-advised level of readability for health information. Fertility clinic websites should specify whether they offer publicly funded treatment, and to whom, as well as clearly stating the eligibility criteria, using suitably readable language to communicate this.