Local sperm donors needed

The Shropshire and Mid Wales Fertility Centre is appealing for men who are aged between 18 and 45 years-old to become sperm donors.

Professor Jason Kasraie, Head of Fertility Services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SATH), which runs the Fertility Centre, said: “For many people, using donated sperm is the only chance they have of fulfilling their dream to have a family.

“There are many reasons why people use donated sperm. Around half of all cases where couples are unable to get pregnant naturally are sperm related. This is usually because the man isn’t producing enough sperm or there are no sperm at all.

“Some men with serious inherited diseases in their family may want to use donated sperm to avoid passing the disease onto their children; while women in same sex relationships and single women will also need donor sperm to have a family.”

Professor Kasraie, a Consultant Clinical Embryologist and Andrologist, said: “Donating sperm is truly altruistic gift to people who cannot conceive. Donors have no legal rights or parental responsibilities for children born from a donation as long as they donate through a Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) licenced UK fertility clinic like the Shropshire and Mid Wales Fertility Centre.”

Donors also need to have various health tests for diseases like HIV and Hepatitis, which can take up to six months.

They will be asked to provide some personal information. Some non-identifying information will be available to the hopeful parents at the time of donation, while identifying information will be available to any children conceived with a donation when they reach 18-years-old.

The Shropshire and Mid Wales Fertility Centre, which is based at the Severn Fields Health Village in Shrewsbury, has one of the highest success rates in fertility treatment in the West Midlands and Wales.

An NHS Assisted Conception Centre, it offers the latest in assisted conception methods and technology to both NHS and self-funded patients.

The Centre is fully regulated and licensed by the HFEA, the UK’s independent regulator. The HFEA licenses fertility clinics and centres carrying out in vitro fertilisation (IVF), other assisted conception procedures and human embryo research.

For more information, email sath.ivfscientist@nhs.net or visit www.shropshireivf.nhs.uk.