Bourn Hall clinic in Cambridge celebrates 2,000 babies born following NHS-funded treatment

Comments(1)

Baby Rocco is just one of the miracle stories being celebrated by a Cambridge fertility clinic, which has just announced more than 2,000 babies have been born following NHS-funded fertility treatment.

Bourn Hall, which has clinics in Cambridge, Colchester and Norwich and has opened supportive satellite clinics in Peterborough and Wickford along with facilities in NHS hospitals in King's Lynn and Luton, was first awarded the East of England contract in 2009 along with four other providers.

NHS funding has given couples such as Harika and Craig Marlow the chance of a family. The couple, who live in Cambridge, had been trying to conceive for 10 years before they were referred to Bourn Hall for IVF treatment.

"We started avoiding certain social situations to make it easier, like children's birthday parties," said Harika. "People were always asking why we hadn't had children yet. We found the easiest thing to do was be honest and we were never embarrassed, but then the person you were talking to would get so embarrassed you'd almost find yourself apologising for having fertility problems."

The couple were successful on their first cycle of IVF and baby Rocco was born on March 11 last year.

"Even now I look at him with absolute amazement, to think that Craig and I created him - he has completed our lives," added Harika.

Her husband said: "The thing with IVF is that for the people that have it, it is a last resort. It gives people an opportunity to have something they couldn't have otherwise. We're so grateful we were given the opportunity to have a chance at IVF."

Staff at Bourn Hall, which was the world's first IVF clinic, were celebrating after having their NHS contract renewed, making it the sole provider to be reappointed and the only one out of the new providers based in the region.

Dr Mike Macnamee, Chief Executive for Bourn Hall Clinic, said that the renewed contract announcement follows months of uncertainty. "Our success rates have improved significantly over the last five years and about 50 per cent of our NHS funded patients now get pregnant on their first cycle of treatment.

See the original post here:
Bourn Hall clinic in Cambridge celebrates 2,000 babies born following NHS-funded treatment