New £3.3m fertility unit to open at hospital

A NEW fertility unit serving people across the region is opening in Leeds.

The 3.3m Leeds Centre for Reproductive Medicine has been built at Seacroft Hospital in the city and will be among the biggest in Britain, carrying out as many as 2,000 IVF treatment cycles each year.

The move brings together two units previously housed at Leeds General Infirmary and St James’s Hospital.

A merger was recommended in a report investigating failings in the unit at the infirmary in 2004 when a laboratory blunder led to mixed race twins being born to a white couple. The St James’s unit also faced closure as its facilities did not meet latest European standards.

Two former wards in an existing building have been transformed to house the service which will cover West Yorkshire but offers a full range of regional services for a substantial part of the north of England, treating both NHS and private patients.

Demand for fertility treatments is expected to increase significantly in coming years.

The service will build on expertise from the two units. Figures from the regulator the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority show they are among the best-performing in the country since their creation in 1991 and they are also centres for internationally recognised research.

Specialist Prof Adam Balen said: “A single centre has been an ambition for the service for many years and we are therefore delighted that this has come to fruition.”