Hospital’s £2m windfall from cord blood

A London hospital has struck a £2 million deal to benefit from new mothers who donate their umbilical cord blood for life-saving transplants, research or storage.

Croydon will receive medical services from the Precious Cells Miracle charity, help with research and a “nominal” share of any private deals agreed with parents wanting to bank their child’s stem cells in case they develop a serious illness in later life.

Croydon is the first NHS trust to benefit financially from allowing a charity access to cord blood and placentas from new mothers.

During early trials, about 80 per cent of pregnant women due to give birth at the hospital have agreed to donate — for free — the “waste” from the birth.

Following a child’s birth, the cord and placenta are passed to the charity’s lab workers waiting outside the delivery room.

It is drained of blood and taken to the charity’s laboratory in Uxbridge, where the stem cells are separated.

Precious Cells is applying for approval to deposit the best samples in the NHS cord blood bank.

The hospital earns a “nominal” fee if parents take up the option of privately banking stem cells for potential future use should their child develop serious illness in later life. This costs £2,350 for 30 years of storage, or £17 a month.

Airline flight attendant Lucy Simmons, 31, from Croydon, donated her cord blood when she gave birth to daughter Sydney-Belle 10 weeks ago. She said: “I lost my dad when I was 13 to cancer. I’m glad to be able to help for something that’s close to me.”