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Hospitals urged to allow new mothers to donate life-saving stem cells
Anna Davis, Education Correspondent14 Jul 2009
Women are being blocked from donating life-saving stem cells in London hospitals, the Standard has learned.
Mothers who want to donate blood from the umbilical cords of their newborn babies to people needing transplants are only able to do so in a handful of hospitals.
The blood, which is left in the placenta and umbilical cord, is rich in stem cells.
These can help cure life-threatening diseases such as leukaemia, immune deficiencies and genetic disorders and are an alternative to bone marrow.
Stem cells can develop into parts of the blood that the patient's body requires, such as red or white blood cells or platelets. But in almost every hospital in the country pints of the blood are thrown away each day because there is
no system to collect it.
Sarah-Jane Heaney, 39, from Pimlico, wants to donate cord blood. Her baby is due to be delivered by Caesarean on Thursday at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, but the only hospital in London that can collect the blood for use by
transplant charity Anthony Nolan Trust is King's College Hospital.
She said: If I wanted to do this privately and keep the blood for myself for use in the future I could pay a private company to collect it after the birth. But I want to donate it to the
public and I can't do it. It is going to be
thrown in the bin.
Ms Heaney tried to change her birth plans and have her baby at King's College Hospital but was unable to do so.
She added: I am going to campaign for women to be given information on donating cord blood. I'm totally shocked this blood is going to be
thrown away on Thursday and even more shocked that this is normal.
Only women who give birth at Barnet General, Northwick Park, Luton & Dunstable and Watford General hospitals can donate their blood to the NHS Cord Blood Bank. The service at King's College Hospital, which opened 18 months ago, is the only one run by the Anthony Nolan Trust and the only service trying to expand to other hospitals.
Terie Duffy, Midwife Cord Blood Coordinator at King's College Hospital, said: It is a great shame that Sarah- Jane and other women can't do this. I urge them to write to their MP and head
of midwifery at their hospital to impress on them the importance of this.
Between one and five women a day donate cord blood at King's College Hospital. Midwives there are trained to harvest the blood.
Reader views (4)
The Anthony Nolan Trust is encouraging mothers to find out more about how they can store their cord blood and save a life. Currently The Anthony Nolan Trust only has one collection centre at Kings College Hospital. For more information about cord blood please visit www.anthonynolan.org.uk. It is a tragedy that more mothers are currently not able to have their cord collected.
- Victoria Moffett, London, 15/07/2009 10:54
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Unfortunately, it is not just donations that are subject to this postcode lottery. Even if this lady wanted to have the cord blood collected for private storage she might also have been prevented from doing so as many hospitals just won't allow it full stop. Every pregnant woman should have access to information about this and then be able to make an informed choice about what to do with the cord blood.
- Ali, London, 15/07/2009 10:29
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It is sad to hear that hospitals would restrict families for either option of privately banking or donating the cells. You might expect this type of behavior from hospitals in countries that do not provide freedom to its citizens, but to see this is happening in hospitals in England is downright sad.
http://cordbloodreviews.wordpress.com
- Cordbloodreviews, USA, 14/07/2009 16:05
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I too wanted to donate, and researched the subject last year. I was very sad to find out I was unable to donate at St George's in Tooting where I gave birth. Its terrible to think of the lives that could be saved by something which is routinely thrown away in the bin hundreds of times a day.
- Jc, London, 14/07/2009 12:49
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