Saint Mary’s Hospital has announced a unique collaboration with US company Fairfax Cryobank to establish a new base for storing and distributing donor sperm from Manchester throughout the UK and Ireland.
This will make Saint Mary’s the UK’s largest donor sperm bank, and help to overcome the shortage of donor sperm.
Same-sex couples and single women undergoing IVF or other fertility treatment will now have access to more than 100 US-based sperm donors who comply with Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) regulations around screening, confidentiality and traceability. This service is also available to heterosexual couples receiving NHS fertility treatment who require donor sperm.
Rather than supplying donor sperm directly to clinics in the UK and Ireland from its facility in the United States, Fairfax Cryobank will now use the specialist assisted reproduction unit at Saint Mary’s Hospital to manage this process.
Saint Mary’s was the first hospital in the UK to offer an NHS IVF service. For more than 30 years it has provided a range of assisted conception treatments to NHS and fee-paying patients, offering care that is safe, effective and based on the latest scientific research.
“This is an exciting partnership which offers a fast and efficient distribution service to support the treatment of heterosexual, single women, and same sex couples,” said Dr Raj Mathur, the Clinical Lead at Saint Mary’s who is working with Fairfax Cryobank to provide the new service. “Our collaboration with Fairfax will provide quicker access to donor sperm for both NHS and private patients, with experts from Saint Mary’s ensuring rigorous quality standards are maintained.”
