How to Choose a Clinic for Egg Donation Treatment

Expertise level and success rates

It sounds obvious, but make sure you select a clinic that has a proven track record using donor eggs. For example, if you’re considering frozen donor egg treatment, research how experienced the team are with the vitrification (freezing) and thawing process. At London Egg Bank, our laboratories have frozen more than 30,000 eggs and thawed more than 16,000 – the largest number in the UK.

Do you feel happy with the size of the clinic and the service they promise to offer? Will treatment be tailored to you and your specific needs? These are also important considerations. For example, London Egg Bank embryologists and consultants specialise exclusively in donor eggs (the only egg bank in the country to do so), giving you peace of mind that the donor egg IVF process will be seamless and that your fertility journey will be that much more personalised.

Success rates are a big factor too, but be aware that they are notoriously difficult to compare – especially when it comes to clinics abroad that are not regulated by the HFEA – and that the way these are presented is often skewed.

For example, some clinics only accept younger patients or those with a higher chance of success, artificially boosting their success rates, while others may turn away patients with complex fertility issues, making their results appear better than clinics that accept high-risk cases. Some clinics report pregnancy rates (positive pregnancy test) rather than live birth rates (healthy baby delivered), which can be misleading since not all pregnancies result in a live birth. Clinics might report clinical pregnancy rates (confirmed by ultrasound) instead of actual take-home baby rates, too, or show their rates per cycle started, per egg retrieval, or per embryo transfer, which can give different impressions.

It’s therefore vitally important to dig into the facts and not to take them at face value. Look for live birth rates per embryo transfer, not just pregnancy rates, compare success rates for your specific age group and diagnosis, and check whether the clinic transfers single embryos or multiple embryos. Also, check what their success rate is specifically with donor eggs. If in doubt, request more information or head to the HFEA website for independent information.

Finally, make sure you look at reviews from past patients – their testimonial on the clinic’s experience and their own journey to parenthood can really help when making this important decision.

Availability and choice of egg donors

Opting for frozen donor egg IVF treatment can significantly speed up the process, and at London Egg Bank, we have a large database of frozen donor eggs available with no waiting list, which can be shipped to all UK licensed clinics. This database is updated weekly, as we are recruiting donors for both frozen and fresh donations all the time.

The ability to review detailed profiles on a database like this is an important consideration, as it allows you to select your donor based on criteria like their physical characteristics, medical history, education, and personal interests. In other countries, like certain parts of Europe, clinics may take the matching process out of your hands, pairing you with donors based on medical, genetic and physical compatibility. This method can reduce the time and emotional stress involved in the selection process, but offers less control.

All donors at the London Egg Bank are UK-recruited, have donated for altruistic reasons (receiving only reimbursement for expenses rather than significant financial compensation) and come from a wide range of ethnicities.

Our database contains 300+ egg donor profiles, including a significant number of Black and Asian donors. We also offer specialized services for black African and African Caribbean patients due to specific genetic mutations such as Alpha and Beta thalassemia, and sickle cell.

Our donors undergo comprehensive genetic screening in specialised laboratories, covering almost all possible mutations. Additionally, we provide free matching screening for intended parents to minimise the risk of passing these genetic conditions to the child. A dedicated genetic counsellor is available to offer guidance and assistance to our patients.

It’s critical to find a clinic that will support you on this journey, where a trained and experienced counsellor will discuss all the implications of receiving donated eggs.

Anonymity of the egg donor

When beginning egg donation treatment, one of the other factors you’ll need to consider is how the UK legal position will impact you and any future child. Some countries allow people to donate completely anonymously, which means there would be no way of your child being able to trace their donor or potentially their donor-conceived siblings, but here in the UK this is not the case.

While all donors and receiving parents remain anonymous to each other, information about the donor will be held at the central register of the HFEA, and any person born as a result of sperm, egg or embryo donation will be able to access information about their donor once they reach the age of 18 (this doesn’t apply to donation treatment received before 1 April 2005). This includes their full name, last known address, date of birth, and  town or district of birth.

Of course, it’s important to remember that a donor has no legal responsibilities to any child created from a donation. The person who receives a donation (and their partner if they have one) will be the child’s legal and social parent(s). A donor is not named on the birth certificate and has no rights over how the child is brought up, and does not have to contribute financially.

When making this decision, it’s important to consider the emotional benefits to your future child from releasing these details. As they grow up, they may be curious about physical or personality traits, or need to access the medical background of a donor. Disclosure of donor-conceived people’s origins has shown to help them understand their own relationships and themselves much better.

Fears that this disclosure would adversely affect relationships with parents and family are largely unfounded. It is now believed that ID-release donations (as they are known in the UK) actually foster healthy family dynamics, by promoting openness and respecting the child’s autonomy and right to make informed choices about their genetic heritage.

For more on the rules about releasing donor information, visit our Using Donor Eggs FAQs page.

A good clinic will have a rigorous screening process for donors. At the London Egg Bank, our egg donors are recruited from within the UK, and they have all donated eggs after passing this process, which is in line with HFEA standards.

How an egg donor is sourced and the screening process

Clinics and agencies actively recruit donors – typically women aged 21-34 who meet specific health and lifestyle criteria – through advertisements, and other avenues such as social media. These women are required to donate altruistically in the UK, whereas some countries pay their donors. Equally, the donor may be an ‘egg sharer’, who wants IVF treatment or Egg Freezing themselves and are donating some of their eggs.

Opting for a UK clinic, who recruit altruistic donors, has some major benefits. London Egg Bank, for example, remains in contact with our donors, who are usually more than happy to assist patients with questions (for example about their medical history), even many years after donating. When donors are paid and given full anonymity, this just isn’t possible.

A good clinic will have a rigorous screening process for donors. At London Egg Bank, our egg donors are recruited from within the UK, and they have all donated eggs after passing this process, which is in line with HFEA standards. This includes extensive medical, genetic and psychological assessments.

These donors want to make a real difference in people’s lives, and we make sure they are happy in their decision as we support them through the donation process and beyond.

As a new patient, some important questions to ask your clinic about the donor recruitment process include: does the clinic recruit donors themselves or work with third-party agencies/import donor profiles from other countries? How large is their database? And is there a waitlist (many clinics aren't upfront about this and will ask you to pay before revealing the size)?

Support and counselling through the donor egg treatment process

Undergoing any kind of fertility treatment can be an emotional rollercoaster, and with donor egg treatment that’s especially true. You may have had many rounds of IVF previously, leaving you financially, mentally and emotionally exhausted, and coming to the decision to use donor eggs has been a difficult and painful one.

With this in mind, it’s critical to find a clinic that will support you on this journey, where a trained and experienced counsellor will discuss all the implications of receiving donated eggs.

At London Egg Bank, we offer supportive counselling to all our patients. For example, our Donor Recipient Support Group is held monthly on Mondays and is available to any patient considering the use of, or already using donor gametes in treatment. The group meets virtually and is available to patients at any London Egg Bank patients. Feeling anxious during your treatment is normal, and we want our patients to know they are not alone.

There are also a number of charities such as The British Infertility Counselling Association (BICA), which has details of counsellors with expertise in supporting people dealing with issues around infertility, including donor conception. And The Donor Conception Network is a supportive network of UK families with children conceived with donated sperm, eggs or embryos, those considering or undergoing donor conception procedures; and donor-conceived people.

Accessibility and logistics

You will probably be in the clinic pretty regularly during your treatment, so choosing one that is convenient to get to obviously has to be a major factor. Spending hours commuting is not ideal, especially when you are trying to keep costs and stress levels to a minimum.

Some clinics, like London Egg Bank clinic/location, offer the option to conduct part of their treatment remotely, though. We have a lot of patients from abroad, who are able to carry out much of their treatment online, coming into the clinic only for embryo transfer, which might be a good option for you, if you’re not located in or near London.

Financial implications

In England, NHS funding for egg donation treatment is dependent on the local area and what its fertility policy is. But as NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) continue to reduce and restrict IVF provision, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to access treatment with donor eggs in some areas of the UK.

Many don’t fund treatment with donor eggs at all, and others will only fund if certain criteria are met. And some will only fund the associated costs of treatment and not fund or source donor eggs – leaving finding an egg donor and all costs up to the patient.

If, however, you opt for a private clinic, look into the costs carefully. Each clinic will have its own way of advertising the cost for donor egg IVF treatment, and some clinics may only advertise a ‘starting from’ price, which can be enticingly low. Usually, this is because the price does not include additional expenses like consultations, medication, screening tests or monitoring scans. If the costs seem too good to be true, it probably means they are.

These days, more and more clinics are offering multi-cycle packages, which might make more financial sense. Guarantee programs, such as embryo or egg guarantees, also provide reassurance to recipients about the success of their treatment. London Egg Bank stands out in this area by offering embryo guarantees on all its treatment options and comprehensive refund packages, Our Silver and Gold refund packages offer up to 100% refund if no baby is born.

Final thoughts

Choosing an egg donation treatment clinic is a hugely personal decision, and there are a variety of factors to consider. Take your time, do your research and ask as many questions as you need to before proceeding. And then go with your gut and select the clinic that not only ticks the most boxes, but that feels right for you.