Fertility unit to close doors for the last time today

DORCHESTER'S BMI The Winterbourne Hospital will close its fertility unit for the final time today.

The hospital announced earlier this year that it was to close its IVF programme as a decrease in demand had left the service unviable.

Consultant gynaecologist Julian Pampiglione said: "Although the hospital will still provide normal some fertility investigations there will no longer be a fertility laboratory on site and this means we will not be able to offer any procedure involving fertilisation of eggs and sperm.

"We are in the process of developing links with selected licensed IVF centres to help people in the immediate area have some parts of the treatments locally such as the counselling, ultrasound scanning and blood hormone monitoring necessary for treatment.

"This will help those needing treatment for it to be more convenient and it will also reduce the travel burden that treatment elsewhere will inevitably otherwise incur."

Since 1997 a total of 990 babies have been delivered following licensed treatment at the hospital and with 23 babies yet to be born the facility is expecting its 1,000th baby to be born in June.

Mr Pampiglione said the medical, embryology, nursing and administration teams are proud of what they had achieved at the hospital.

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Fertility unit to close doors for the last time today