£250,000 investment brings improvements to fertility services in Shropshire
Major improvements have been made to fertility services in Shropshire following a £250,000 investment which bosses say have made the county’s unit among the safest in the country.
The investments in the Shropshire and Mid Wales Fertility Centre at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital have brought a number of benefits for couples trying to conceive as well as improvements for staff who work in the department.
Improvements include a Liquid Nitrogen Generator, a cutting edge piece of equipment which means the unit can generate its own liquid nitrogen to store embryos in. Previously liquid nitrogen was delivered to the Fertility Unit once a week, but the new generator means a supply is always available.
A new state of the art ‘Cryogenics Room’ has also been created where embryos, eggs and sperm can be stored in safety.
A new Scanning Suite, which is more spacious and of a higher specification than the previous scanning room, has also been completed as part of the work.
The improvements follow national changes to inspection legislation.
Jason Kasraie, Consultant Embryologist at the centre, said: “The safe storage of human embryos is one of the greatest responsibilities we’ve got. The embryos we have in storage could result in the birth of 1,000 children in the future. For many couples, the embryos they have in storage represent their only hope of starting a family.
“The investment means we now have one of the safest Cryogenic storage facilities in the country.
“The Liquid Nitrogen Generator means we should never run out of liquid nitrogen, which further ensures the safety of the embryos. We also have an uninterruptable power supply to every single alarm for each tank the embryos are in, to ensure that if anything should go wrong, we will know about it and can fix it.
“The air-flow systems have been upgraded to ensure the air in the room is replaced every 50 seconds, bringing additional safety benefits to staff. The team at the Centre are delighted that the Trust invested to ensure the future safety of the embryos and staff in the department.”
