Here at NUH Life, we help create all types of families.
We offer a range of services to support lesbian, gay, queer and gender diverse individuals and couples on the way to creating their own family.
Using donor sperm
If you need to use donor sperm to create your family, for example as a female couple, single woman or trans man, we have our very own donor bank with over 40 diverse donors to choose from. You can use one in donor insemination (DI) treatment here at NUH Life or we can supply sperm to a UK clinic of your choice for use in IVF or reciprocal IVF. All our donors are used in the UK only and have a maximum 10 family limit, read more about the importance of this in our blog.
Known sperm donors
If you know someone who would like to donate sperm to you specifically, we also offer a package for known donors. This includes all the screening, counselling, storage and quarantine that any other donor goes through, but your donor will donate exclusively to you. You can then have DI treatment with us, or transfer the samples elsewhere for treatment. To enquire about using a known donor, please call the andrology laboratory on 0115 9709417.
Sperm freezing and storage
For transgender individuals who wish to preserve their sperm before taking hormone blockers, feminising hormones or surgery, we provide long term sperm freezing and storage. You can self-refer and self-fund with just a phone call or email, or if you are under the care of the Nottingham NHS Gender Clinic, you can be referred for NHS-funded storage.
When the time comes to use your samples in treatment, you could use them in intrauterine insemination treatment (IUI) at NUH Life (if suitable), or transport them to the IVF centre of your choice.
Surrogacy
Whilst we don’t provide IVF or surrogacy ourselves, we can provide a range of self-funded investigations, including semen analysis and infection screening and sperm freezing to help you in the run up to your treatment. Results can be made available directly to you or to another provider of your choice.
Funding
Most couples and individuals are entitled to some NHS funding for their initial consultation and investigations, including same sex couples and single people who are actively seeking fertility treatment. The only usual exceptions to this are those on overseas visitors visas. There is also some NHS funding for treatment for same sex female couples and trans couples, although criteria applies. For more information visit our funding page.
Donating sperm
Many of the families we help create would not be possible without a sperm donor, and we are truly grateful to those individuals who donate their sperm to help others. If you are interested in donating sperm as an altruistic donor, please visit our sister website or email us for more information.
Our values
At NUH Life we are kind, caring and compassionate to everyone.
We enjoy the breadth and diversity of life and the value it adds to everyone.
We understand that the most important for children is not the structure of their family, to be loved, protected and safe.
We try our best to make our patient information, website and services as inclusive as possible and we welcome your feedback on how we can improve.