Bourn Hall goes home and away to cut IVF waiting times
The national sperm crisis has prompted Bourn Hall Clinic - the world's first 'test tube baby' clinic – to go to Scandinavia for this rare commodity. A donor bank in Denmark has already attracted enough 'Vikings' to enable up to 45 babies, significantly reducing the clinic's waiting list.
Mike Macnamee, chief executive of Bourn Hall Clinic, comments that sperm donation in the UK has fallen dramatically following recent changes in legislation.
"Until 5 years ago we worked with a lab in London that had sufficient volunteers to ensure that a bank of 25 donors was always available. But this type of sperm donation has virtually stopped in the UK and it is creating a big problem for clinics.
"The agreement with the Danish sperm bank means that we can now offer couples sufficient choice of height, build, eye and hair colour. The number of babies resulting from each donor's sperm is restricted to 10 and we maintain careful records to ensure a good geographic distribution of recipients.
"In Denmark, they have had no problem recruiting donors in the full knowledge that babies born following sperm donation will, at 18, be able to gain identifying information about the donor. This culture of openness has meant that more men are prepared to donate sperm. And that it is collected and stored under the same high standards we would expect in the UK."
Additionally, Bourn Hall is looking at the possibility of sperm sharing. Couples undergoing fertility treatment have particular empathy with others in a similar situation and may be more accepting of the possible implications of donating sperm. As Macnamee explains:
"Where routine semen analysis detects particularly strong and healthy sperm we are starting to approach couples to see if they would consider a sharing programme. We have already successfully recruited two donors this way."
Sperm donation in the UK has fallen for two reasons: firstly, changes in the anonymity rules last year have meant that a child born as a result of egg or sperm donation can gain identifying information about their biological parent at 18 years. In addition, the HFEA has always restricted how much clinics can pay donors and at just £15 a time plus travel expenses many men believe it is not worth their while.
Bourn Hall is confident that their two new approaches will mean that couples should have a shorter waiting time for treatment.
This is the second initiative in the last six months to actively reduce Bourn Hall's waiting list. The clinic launched an Easter Dozen Appeal earlier in the year, appealing for 12 women under 36 to come forward for egg donation. As a result fifty women were identified as meeting the criteria, of which 13 are currently going through the process of egg donation.
