Our Trust is looking to develop a partnership with fertility colleagues at the amazing IVI Fertility group. 

The IVI group have a number of clinics throughout Spain, and we were invited to look round the Barcelona clinic. If the partnership with us goes ahead our Trust will be the Barcelona clinic's hub in the north of England.

The clinic is a state-of-the-art centre for treating couples/women who require egg donation to become parents.  

There is a shortage of eggs donors within the UK which has led to Yorkshire Fertility looking elsewhere for egg donors. The IVI clinic in Barcelona Spain were keen to link with Yorkshire Fertility enabling choice for their patients. Eggs are stored at the centre in Barcelona and patients are matched with potential donors through a series of screening for characteristics such as: height, eye colour, blood group and skin tone.

If a patient is wishing to go down the egg donation route they will be able to receive care jointly from the Barcelona clinic and Yorkshire Fertility for ongoing treatment and monitoring. 

Our experts Sister Helen Marvell and consultant Martin De Bono from the new Yorkshire Fertility service based at CHFT are keen to bring the partnership to our Trust to provide more choice for local women closer to home.

Helen said: “ What we saw in Spain is a highly organised, very professional and highly accessible  service. There is plenty of accommodation close by for women being treated there. The staff are multilingual enabling easy communication with our patients and staff. The Barcelona clinic alone currently cares for around 400 women from the UK. That is how good it is. We were really impressed with what we saw.”

Our team first met with the Spanish team during one of the Fertility Roadshows in the UK which led to one of their representatives visiting CHFT. After the visit to Barcelona our team is keen to advance the service and is exploring the governance processes involved to develop a partnership with the group.