London Women's Clinic is Expanding

The long-established fertility clinics in Bromley and Eastbourne are welcomed into the leading London Women’s Clinic group, offering new technologies and treatment packages to NHS and private patients.

Previously recognised as iTrust Fertility, the new London Women’s Clinic sites in Bromley and Eastbourne are poised to take on a range of state-of-art treatments over the coming months, introducing the very latest in reproductive medicine to the residents of Kent, Sussex and South London.

In addition to traditional IVF and ICSI, new treatments to be offered are elective egg freezing, egg donation – associated with London Egg Bank – and Kind IVF, an affordable and successful IVF treatment package. Our sperm donation arm, London Sperm Bank provides high quality sperm sourced from UK based donors.

Dr Kamal Ahuja, Scientific and Managing Director

important new treatments to all our patients, whether NHS or self-funded.’

Affordable IVF without compromise

The aim of the Kind IVF programme is to make quality IVF more affordable and accessible. Likely to be popular in the Eastbourne and Bromley clinics, the efficient and streamlined package has been developed by worldleading experts, making no compromises in technology, service, and dedication.

Kind IVF is particularly suitable for patients who are at an early stage of their treatment journey and show normal ovulation. They have been shown to benefit from first-class treatment results, cutting-edge technology, and no-hidden-extras pricing, at £2750 per IVF attempt. The latest results from the Kind IVF programme, which is available to selected patients, are above the national average for IVF. *During the first quarter of 2023, the ongoing ultrasound pregnancy rate was 75% per single embryo (blastocyst) transfer. Additionally, all patients both successful and unsuccessful, who received fresh embryo transfer had on average a minimum of two high quality blastocysts in storage for future attempts. Please visit kindivf.com for further details.

Success Rate* 75%

A revolution in egg donation

Egg donation is an increasingly common treatment for infertile women whose ovaries are unable to produce suitable eggs, perhaps because of an early menopause or ovarian problem. For these unfortunate women a donor egg can be their only reasonable chance of having a baby.

London Women’s Clinic’s impressive results in IVF are similarly found in treatments using eggs supplied by a donor. The increase in the uptake and success of egg donation is due to a remarkable development in freezing technology which has had a huge impact at London Egg Bank at Harley Street and is now set to follow in Bromley and Eastbourne (see below). This is the fast-freezing technique of vitrification, developed in Japan almost two decades ago and now taken up throughout the world with remarkable results. Vitrification is today the world’s preferred method for freezing embryos prior to transfer and for freezing eggs prior to fertilisation.

Vitrification and the demise of fresh treatment cycles in ART, Kamal K. Ahuja and Nick Macklon https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rbmo.2020.03.017

“The bond between the three of us was instant. There is no question that he is our son, and the fact he is donorconceived doesn’t even come into mind.”

London Egg Bank patient

UK’s largest egg bank at Bromley

For London Egg Bank, the ability to freeze eggs without damage to their micro-architecturewhich was for many years one of the greatest challenges of reproductive medicine - has been the defining principle for its recent range of treatments. Those treatments now include elective egg freezing for the preservation of fertility and the supply of frozen donor eggs in what is arguably Britain’s most comprehensive and innovative egg freezing programme.

So, London Egg Bank, with a larger selection of UK-based donors, mostly comprising of UK graduates with a kind heart wanting to help others, is now able to meet the treatment demands of all its infertile patients unable to produce their own eggs. No longer is overseas treatment necessary, no longer is there a need for long waiting-lists or transfers in a ‘fresh’ treatment cycle. The bank of frozen donor eggs can be consulted in an online catalogue and personal preferences for ethnicity or background matched.

‘Only a few years ago most egg donation patients from Britain had to travel overseas for their donor eggs to Spain or Cyprus, where donors were more numerous and the supply of eggs more abundant. But all that changed with vitrification and the technology to freeze and thaw eggs without damage.’

Professor Nick Macklon,

Group Medical Director at London Women’s Clinic and HFEA Person Responsible for Bromley and Eastbourne

Many patients who need donor eggs are coming to the end of their reproductive lifespan. Indeed, the latest European figures show that almost two-thirds of patients who receive donor eggs are 40 years or older. In these women ovarian function is no longer what it was several years ago. For some unfortunate women who have an early menopause this may be as young as 35 or 40. But there is some good news for them, for what studies have shown beyond doubt - as in all forms of IVF treatment - is that success for the recipient patient depends more on the age of her donor’s eggs than on her own chronological age.

For example, the rate of successful pregnancy for a 43-year-old woman is around 50-70% with donor eggs, but only around 5% with her own eggs. The explanation is simply that donor eggs usually come from healthy young donors without fertility problems and before any age-related decline in their own natural fertility. This is reflected at London Egg Bank, where an analysis of 550 young women successfully registering as egg donors found that most were in their twenties, with an average age of 24. Further details are available at londoneggbank.com

5%

Chance of a 43 year old woman’s successful pregnancy with own eggs

50-70%

Chance of a 43 year old woman’s successful pregnancy with donor eggs

Further details of our outstanding results for the donor egg programme can be found in RBMO’s research paper by Vanessa Pataia; https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.rbmo.2021.05.015

Over 1,000 healthy babies have already resulted in women who used frozen eggs from London Egg Bank.

UK’s leading provider of donor sperm

London Sperm Bank has been the leading UK donor sperm bank for over a decade, trusted and approved by over 75 clinics, including all leading clinics in the UK.

As a sister company to London Women’s Clinic, London Sperm Bank provides patients with special benefits that patients at other clinics cannot enjoy, including a faster turnaround time from order to treatment, and more flexibility in using the samples for treatments. Due to this realationship we provide patients with a seamless collaboration.

An HFEA licensed, and ISO certified centre, we provides more British donors than any other sperm bank, and are also known for our diverse donor population, providing options for all families. With its Central London location, London Sperm Bank donor sperm is never far away, when it’s needed! For more information, visit londonspermbank.com

“My sister had two children with the help of a donor. My nephew and niece have brought a lot of joy to our family, and I wanted to do a small part to help others experience something like that joy, whether they are doing it by themselves or in a relationship.”

London Sperm Bank Donor

Elective egg freezing

‘Elective’ egg freezing is yet another new service in reproductive medicine driven by technology and patient demand, that will soon be available in our Bromley and Eastbourne clinics. Made possible by the technological advance of vitrification and the ability to freeze eggs to a glass-like state without any loss of function, preservation of fertility for personal reasons has aroused huge public interest in recent years.

Egg freezing affords women the chance to consider their family options later in life and be less pressured or led by the loud tick of biological clocks.

I

My career is my focus

I want to learn, travel and explore

I’m waiting for the right partner

I love carefree living I’m looking for my perfect home

need time for self-care

Its origins lie in preserving the fertility of young women whose treatment for cancer might destroy their ovarian function. The latter type of eggfreezing is usually performed in consultation with an oncologist, while the former, elective eggfreezing, is essentially a women’s own decision made in consultation with her fertility clinic.

And only now are we beginning to understand why it’s proving so popular. ‘Studies suggest that the reasons are mainly a concern about future motherhood and the likelihood that a suitable male partner ready for family life may not have arrived,’ explains Trina Shah. ‘There’s also evidence indicating that some women, especially in their twenties and early thirties, would rather concentrate on their careers than commit at this time to family life. It’s for these reasons that fertility preservation in these cases has been described as “elective” or “social” egg-freezing. It seems to reflect the lifestyle choice that women are making - which was given public airing in the decisions of companies like Apple or Facebook to fund the egg-freezing of their female employees. But studies suggest that these egg freezers are in the minority, and most are looking for an insurance against age-related infertility and the absence of a partner.’

Freeze now Live today Try later

‘There’s also evidence indicating that some women, especially in their twenties and early thirties, would rather concentrate on their careers than commit at this time to family life.’

Trina Shah, Deputy Laboratory Manager and Senior Embryologist at London Egg Bank

Egg freezing is a new option in reproduction, as new as the technology of vitrification itself, so we have very little information about using vitrified eggs. However, based on studies with frozen donor eggs and routine IVF, all the signs are encouraging. There is strong evidence from egg donation that the chance of pregnancy from a frozen egg is just as great as from a fresh egg, with no damage caused by the freezing and thawing. Similarly most recent studies show that eggs from frozen and thawed eggs for own use deliver success rates that are comparable to those achieved with donors’ eggs. Although vitrified eggs are likely to remain viable indefinitely, the legal storage limit in the UK has now been extended to 55 years, meaning that an elective egg freezer who freezes her eggs in her early twenties (as would appear to be the optimal time) can return to use them whenever seems convenient.

Freezing your eggs is a great way to preserve your fertility until you’re ready to start a family. Further details are available at londonwomensclinic.com/eggfreezing

London Women’s Clinic has developed the UK’s longest serving and most successful egg freezing programme at Harley Street and London Bridge and will now bring this service and expertise to Bromley and Eastbourne.

‘There’s a huge increase in women choosing to put their fertility on ice and wait a while before unlocking their eggs and starting a family’

90%+

Successful egg survival rates in donor eggs

58%

Successful pregnancy rate after one embryo transfer from a single cohort of frozen donor eggs

70%

Successful cumulative pregnancy rate after two embryo transfers from a single cohort of frozen donor eggs

Sarah Mourik, Consultant IVF Specialist at London Women’s Clinic

Leading success rates What the future holds

The latest analysis of London Women’s Clinic treatments has found a clinical pregnancy rate of 45% in women under 35 years of age treated with IVF, and of 38% in those older. These are official results reported to be one of the highest of any London clinic, representing a very high rate of efficiency for every embryo transferred. These are results which can now be expected at the new clinics in Bromley and also in Eastbourne.

The future of reproductive medicine - nationally and in our newly acquired clinics in Bromley and Eastbournewill be driven by responsible science and by patient demand, from either NHS or self-funded patients. It is our expectation that oocyte banking, built on the technology of vitrification, and patient demand as evident in the self-contained packages of Kind IVF, will define London Women’s Clinic’s advance in the foreseeable future.

Routine IVF services in the treatment of infertility will continue as ever, but even here, in what has been a core interest over the past two decades, vitrification and patient demand are already leading changes in performance through embryo freezing and screening of embryos before transfer.

However, no other clinic in Britain can boast the success of London Women’s Clinic in our development of egg donation at home, fertility preservation through elective egg freezing, and a welcome programme of affordable IVF. This tradition of innovation and patientled treatments dates back to the very founding of London Women’s Clinic 35 years ago, and which continues today in its commitment to patient initiatives and the responsible application of emerging technologies. Now, as the two fertility clinics in Bromley and Eastbourne join London Women’s Clinic group – each bringing a wealth of excellent staff and historic importance to their respective locations –these are traditions locally available to the residents of the South-East.

Previously located in the historic BMI Esperance Hospital, this specialist fertility unit was first founded in 1989 and has more recently been referred to as The Sussex Downs Fertility Centre and/ or iTrust Eastbourne before joining the London Women’s Clinic group in April 2023.

Well-established for over 30 years, our new Bromley location houses a state-of-the-art laboratory in central Bromley – a short journey from its prior location in BMI Chelsfield Park Hospital.

Meet the team

Michael Rimington Clinical Director at our Eastbourne Clinic

Shailaja Nair Clinical Director at London Egg Bank

Natalie Lacome Operations Manager at London Women’s Clinic

Marta Wolska Director of Operations at London Egg Bank

Malini Uppal Clinical Director at our Bromley Clinic

Melanie Collenette Director of Clinical Services at Eastbourne and Bromley

Charlotte Bull Clinic Manager in Kent and Sussex

Manasvi Bommareddy Fertility Consultant at our Eastbourne Clinic

Nicole Nel Laboratory Manager at London Sperm Bank

Ruby Walker Deputy Operations Manager at London Women’s Clinic

Sameer Poselay Senior Andrologist and Donor Co-ordinator at London Sperm Bank

For further information, please contact our general enquires line on 0207 563 4309 or visit our websites: londonwomensclinic.com

londoneggbank.com

londonspermbank.com kindivf.com