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‘Let us keep life-saving stem cells from birth’
Sophie Goodchild, Health and Social Affairs Correspondent25 Nov 2009
Two London hospitals have been accused of blocking access to life-saving treatment, by barring new mothers from storing their babies' stem cells.
More than 11,000 mothers in Britain have used private doctors to freeze the stem cells — contained in blood from the umbilical cord — to grow new tissue should their children ever become ill.
The cells are heralded as a cure for common health problems and have been used in treating leukaemia.
But University College London and Chelsea and Westminster bar mothers from hiring a doctor to save the stem cells. UCLH cites risk of infection or a doctor having a criminal background, and midwives at Chelsea and Westminster follow guidelines that warn there is no proven evidence of any benefit.
King's College Hospital has removed its ban after lobbying by patients. But most mothers in London wanting to collect stem cells privately are still left with the costly alternative of giving birth in private hospitals. The NHS runs a stem cell donation scheme but mothers cannot reserve cells for their own children.
Cord blood is a vital source of stem cells and a personal match between the patient and the blood increases the chance of successful treatment. Shamshad Ahmed, managing director of Smart Cells, a private stem cell bank, said: “It is clear these hospitals believe in the technology but are denying individuals this important opportunity to store their own baby's cells.”
UCLH said it did not allow “commercial” collection without “convincing” medical reasons — meeting guidelines from the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Chelsea and Westminster said it neither “promoted nor encouraged” the procedure.
King's, which also takes stem cell donations for leukaemia charity the Anthony Nolan Trust, said mothers could plan private collections with the maternity unit: “The collections must be made by certified phlebotomists employed by a licensed third party who have first undergone the necessary legal and safety checks required by the trust before coming to the hospital.”
How it works
Private firms charge £1,800 for collecting and storing stem cells. They must be taken from the umbilical cord within an hour of birth and can be frozen and kept for up to 25 years.
Stem cells can be used to regenerate damaged organs and tissue. Some illnesses such as cancers require chemotherapy, but these treatments can kill good cells as well as cancerous ones — so banking stem cells gives parents a ready supply if their child becomes ill and needs treatment.
Case study
Virginia Fernandez, 33, wanted to bank her baby's cord blood as an insurance policy against cancer. Her grandmother, father and mother all suffered it and Mrs Fernandez, who works for an investment bank, wanted to protect her children in future. But UCLH would not allow the procedure and Mrs Fernandez, 36 weeks pregnant, is paying £5,000 to give birth at St Thomas' Hospital.
“All NHS hospitals should have the same policy,” she said. “It's a postcode lottery. I had to ring around to get a private bed for the procedure.”
