FAQs

UK fertility regulator the HFEA advises that it is always safer to have treatment with donor sperm at a licensed clinic. Using sperm from an unregulated source - such as private online sperm advertisements – for DIY home insemination carries significant risks.

By having donor sperm treatment at a clinic, you can be sure that your sperm donor has been health screened and that his sperm is safe for your use (a clinic will freeze it and place it in quarantine while the donor is retested for infectious diseases).  Treatment at a clinic is also optimised for your best chance of pregnancy, and your sperm donor is just that – he has no legal parental rights over your child.

If you are considering home insemination because of the cost of treatment at a clinic, then Essential IVF & Essential ICSI offer you a low-cost treatment at a significantly reduced cost to standard private treatment.  For more information, visit the HFEA website.

You can contact our New Patient Team to see if you qualify for Essential treatments with donor sperm.

All our sperm donors have undergone rigorous health screening in accordance with professional guidance, which includes tests for:

• Inherited conditions such as Cystic Fibrosis 
• Karyotype for chromosome abnormalities
• Blood-related hereditary conditions 
• HIV 1 and 2
• Hepatitis B and C
• HTLV I and II
• Syphilis
• Gonorrhoea
• Chlamydia
• Cytomegalovirus

Sperm donors are re-screened every three months and again before samples are released from quarantine for use.

All our sperm donors are recruited through our own nationwide sperm donor programme, Semovo. Semovo has sperm banks across the country in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, and Glasgow, giving you the most extensive choice of sperm donors for your treatment, from right across the UK.

Although sperm donors and recipient patients are anonymous to each other, you will be given lots of detailed information about your donor. Because we get to know our donors well, we can give you some personal insight as well as the information in your sperm donor’s profile, which includes:

• Physical details: Such as height, weight, hair, eye colour, ethnicity
• Hobbies & career: What your donor likes to do and the job he has
• Pen picture: A personal ‘about me’ written by the donor. This is where your donor will go into detail about his outlook on life, personality, family background, current family life, the type of person he is and why he decided to donate sperm.
• Goodwill message: Your sperm donor also writes a goodwill message to the child you may have, which you can show them someday.

If your treatment is successful you can also find out if your donor has helped anyone else to have a family and if your child has any donor siblings, via the HFEA.

Yes, we allow sperm reservations for future siblings if your treatment is successful. However, this depends on whether your donor has stock available when you are ready to have a sibling. Also, it is important to know that donor sperm has an expiry date of 10 years after it was first stored.

Therefore, if you want to consider your donor for future siblings, let us know so we can advise on stock levels and/or expiry dates for your preferred donor.