CRGW Ltd: 07029220
EGG SHARING – INFORMATION FOR PROVIDERS
What is Egg Sharing?
Egg sharing involves one woman (the egg provider) undergoing a cycle of IVF treatment and
providing some of her eggs to another woman (the recipient). This increases the availability of
eggs to potential recipients and enables the egg provider to receive her own IVF treatment at a
reduced cost.
The Egg Provider
Who can be an egg provider?
To be eligible to be an egg provider you should;
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Be between 18-33 years old (egg collection will need to take place before 33rd birthday)
Have no history of moderate or severe endometriosis
Have anti mullerian hormone levels within normal limits, the cost of this blood test is £80
(see the website price list for most upto date costs).
Not have any transmittable diseases (infectious or inheritable)
Have no family history of inheritable disorders/ congenital abnormalities
Have both ovaries
Have no history of poor ovarian response to stimulation.
Be a non- smoker
Have a body mass index between 19-35.
Have no history of recurrent miscarriage ( 3 or more confirmed miscarriages)
Have less than 3 previous failed IVF attempts
Have no previous failed fertilisation
Have less than 3 previous attempts at egg sharing
How do I join the egg share programme as a provider?
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You can contact us at CRGW on 01443 443 999. We will need to approach your GP
regarding your suitability to be a donor.
You will be invited for a consultation. At this visit we will take a medical, fertility and family
history from you/partner. We will need to exclude the possibility of inheritable disorders.
We will plan your investigations/screening tests and discuss how we assess your suitability
as an egg provider.
Screening
This is to prevent transmission of infection or increased risk of abnormalities in any children born
from treatment.
Please note, there is a non-refundable deposit of £500 required prior to these tests being
undertaken. This deposit does not include the cost of the female AMH (£80) blood test or
the male virology testing (£100).
Female:
Blood will be taken from you to test for;
 Blood group and rhesus antigen status
Document Name: PI 45 Egg Sharing – Info for Providers
Approved By: Umesh Acharya
Author: Amanda O’Leary
Version 6 (Feb 2014)
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CRGW Ltd: 07029220
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HIV
Hepatitis B core antibody & surface antigen and Hepatitis C
Syphilis
Rubella
AMH (hormone)
Genetic tests for chromosomal abnormalities including the test for the Cystic Fibrosis gene
Specific tests related to ethnicity will also be carried out; Thalassaemia (Eastern
Mediterranean), Sickle Cell (Afro-Caribbean ),Tay-Sacs (Jewish)
 HTLV 1 and 2
We will also do;
 A urine sample for Chlamydia and gonorrhoea
 Pelvic scan
Male
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Semen analysis
HIV and Hepatitis B core antibody and surface antigen and Hepatitis C (blood tests)
Please note the male screening tests and semen analysis will not be covered by the
recipient and therefore a charge will apply of £175.
N.B. HIV and Hepatitis B and C are carried out before being accepted onto the programme and
are repeated at the start of any treatment cycle. This does not completely exclude the possibility of
these viruses, as due to the nature of the test false positive and false negative results can occur.
Screening may reveal an unsuspected infectious or genetic condition which may have implications
for your future health or the health of your family. We will, of course, do appropriate tests and
provide counselling.
Welfare of the child
As with all fertility treatments the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) code of
practice requires that we assess the suitability of you/your partner to be parents. This is done by
you completing a questionnaire. If there are any issues raised from this we may need to contact
your GP or other relevant professional. We will ask you to complete 'Consent to Disclosure' before
we make these enquiries. It may also be necessary to discuss this at our social and ethical issues
group.
Counselling
Prior to acceptance onto the programme we will ask you/partner to be seen by an independent
counsellor who will explore ethical and legal issues with you. The counsellor may also discuss any
welfare of the child issues that have arisen or, if appropriate, any feedback from our clinic meeting
group.
Ethical Issues
These are some of the issues which you should consider;
 How will you feel about someone else having a child conceived from your eggs?
Document Name: PI 45 Egg Sharing – Info for Providers
Approved By: Umesh Acharya
Author: Amanda O’Leary
Version 6 (Feb 2014)
Page 2 of 6
CRGW Ltd: 07029220
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How will you feel if the recipient is successful, but the treatment does not work for you?
Consider what anonymous information you would like to receive about the recipient’s
treatment, bearing in mind that donor anonymity has been removed and there is the
potential that a child may make contact in the future.
How will you feel if a child born from treatment contacts you when they are 18 years old?
The law now allows access to identifying information when they are 18. We encourage
parents of donor conceived children to tell the child from an early age how they were
conceived as it is important for them to know about their origins. We encourage them to
seek advice about how to do this from the Donor Conception website.
You should consider the needs of any existing children or children born from treatment
There is also a possibility that children born as a result of treatment could be unknowing
siblings and may live in the same geographical area.
Legal Issues
Since 1991 the HFEA has kept a confidential register of information about all sperm, egg and
embryo donations. This includes for all donors a physical description, ethnicity and (if provided)
occupation and interests. The register includes all treatments and resulting children. The following
information can now be accessed
Information donor – conceived individuals can receive
18 year olds will be able to obtain
 Identifying information about the donor including name, address, date of birth and physical
appearance if the donation was made after April 2005.
 Identifying information on donations made prior to April 2005 if the donor has
retrospectively removed anonymity
 Anonymous information if the donation was made before April 2005
 Those who intend to marry or enter into a civil partnership can submit a joint application to
establish whether they are genetically related.
 Non-identifying information about their donor- conceived genetically related siblings
including number, sex and year of birth.
 18 year olds will be able to find out identifying information about donor- conceived
genetically related siblings, if both sides consent, and will be able to find out about their
donor, if applicable
16 year olds will be entitled to
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Non identifying information about their donor and their donor -conceived genetically related
siblings.
16 year olds who intend to enter an intimate physical relationship can find out whether they
are genetically related.
Information parents of donor-conceived individuals can receive
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They can be provided with non-identifying information about the donor by the clinic when
they receive treatment
Upon request the HFEA can provide them with the number, sex and year of birth of other
offspring of the same donor
Document Name: PI 45 Egg Sharing – Info for Providers
Approved By: Umesh Acharya
Author: Amanda O’Leary
Version 6 (Feb 2014)
Page 3 of 6
CRGW Ltd: 07029220
Information donors can receive
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They have the right to access the following anonymous information about their genetic
offspring; number, sex and year of birth of people born as a result of their donation
The HFEA is expected to contact and forewarn a donor of the fact that a donor conceived
individual has requested identifying information about him or her
Donors will be able to contact the clinic or the HFEA for this information
Further Legal Issues
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As the egg provider, you may withdraw your consent to the agreement at any time before
any eggs or embryos created from the treatment are transferred into the recipient, used for
research or allowed to perish
The outcomes of the treatment cycles may be disclosed to the provider and recipient if
both have consented (This is up to the individual and we respect your decision)
We can give the recipient non-identifying information about the provider and we also
encourage the provider to write a short biography which can be given to any child resulting
from treatment
Egg providers have no legal claim to any children born from their donation
It is illegal for payment to be made as part of an egg share arrangement
Medical Issues
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You may not produce enough follicles or eggs to continue the egg sharing arrangement.
This cannot be anticipated as ovarian response to stimulation can vary in different
treatment cycles and may happen even if you have previously had a good response.
As with all IVF cycles there is a risk of over response which can have serious
complications. Although we would like you to produce enough eggs to share we aim to
avoid ovarian hyper-stimulation and would plan your treatment accordingly.
Because you are sharing your eggs there may not be any/many embryos to freeze. You
should also be aware that frozen embryo cycles are less successful than fresh embryo
cycles.
In an egg sharing arrangement both you and the recipient have fertility problems. You may
have an undetected egg problem which will affect your treatment and that of the recipient.
We would emphasise that neither you nor the egg recipient should feel under pressure to
go ahead with the treatment.
It is essential for the wellbeing of any children born as a result of the treatment that you
disclose all of your personal and family medical history. If a child is born with a disability
due to you withholding information regarding conditions about which you knew, or could be
reasonably expected to know, then he/she may sue you personally for damages.
In the future if you discover a previously unsuspected genetic condition, the clinic and the
HFEA should be immediately informed. Consideration would be given to informing
recipients who have had live births or where pregnancy is ongoing. In these circumstances
appropriate tests would be arranged and counselling offered.
The Treatment Cycle
The treatment involves you undergoing a cycle of IVF at the same time the recipient takes
medication to prepare her womb for embryo transfer.
Document Name: PI 45 Egg Sharing – Info for Providers
Approved By: Umesh Acharya
Author: Amanda O’Leary
Version 6 (Feb 2014)
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CRGW Ltd: 07029220
Please note; if ICSI treatment is required, there will be a charge of £700.
To allow synchronisation of your cycles you may need to commence either the oral contraceptive
pill (if not contraindicated) or a progesterone tablet. We will follow this with daily injections of a
drug called Suprecur. This is designed to “switch off” your hormones to allow us to manipulate
your cycle. After 2-3 weeks on these injections their effect is checked by a baseline scan. When
your hormones are “switched off” you then start a second daily injection to stimulate the ovaries.
You will continue both injections for approximately 2 weeks, with regular scans to monitor your
progress. For a full description of an IVF cycle please see our information leaflet on
IVF/ICSI treatment.
Following egg collection you will be asked to share 50% of your eggs with the recipient. Your eggs
will be inseminated with your partners/donor sperm. The recipient’s share of the eggs will be
inseminated with her partner’s sperm/donor sperm.
We will ask you to use pessaries/injections to encourage pregnancy to occur and to do a
pregnancy test 16 days after embryo transfer. As with all fertility treatments there is a risk of
ectopic and multiple pregnancies.
No more than 2 embryos can be transferred into your womb. To reduce the risks of a multiple
pregnancy we now encourage a single embryo transfer.
Consents
There are number of consents and forms for you/partner to complete before the treatment can
proceed.
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We will require a copy of your passport (which can be taken at the clinic).
You will need to consent if we are to keep your GP informed of your progress or if we
need to request information from them in the event of welfare of the child concerns.
Welfare of the child questionnaire
Consent to use and storage of eggs and embryos (female)
Consent to treatment and embryo transfer (female)
Consent to use of eggs in donation (female)
Consent to use and storage of sperm and embryos (male)
If using donor sperm there will be additional consents concerning legal parenthood (see
information sheet regarding the use of donor sperm)
The egg sharing agreement.(all concerned)
The Egg Sharing Agreement
N.B. There is a separate consent form for the agreement and the following outlines the contents.
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If you produce 8 or more eggs you will share 50% with the recipient.
If you produce an odd number, the recipient will get the extra egg.
If you get less than 10-14 follicles on scan we would not continue with the egg sharing, so
you may keep all your eggs at the cost of the treatment cycle and cost of drugs or you can
stop treatment. However we would discuss your response to decide if you were able to
take part in any further egg share programme.
Document Name: PI 45 Egg Sharing – Info for Providers
Approved By: Umesh Acharya
Author: Amanda O’Leary
Version 6 (Feb 2014)
Page 5 of 6
CRGW Ltd: 07029220
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If you have less than 8 eggs on the day of egg collection, then you keep all your eggs at
no cost to yourself, but we would consider you to be unsuitable to undertake egg sharing
in the future, if required.
If you withdraw from an egg sharing agreement during your ovarian stimulation without a
clinical reason you will be liable to pay for the cost of the medication and part of the IVF
cycle.
The cost of the treatment and the drugs is born by recipient
If additional procedures are required the individual requiring them will meet the costs.
Additional procedures include; ICSI, Donor Sperm, Embryo freezing (after the first year),
Sperm freezing and Assisted Hatching.
Divulging Information
Neither you nor the egg recipient will have identifying information about the other and we will
ensure that you attend clinic on different days or times, and are treated by different members of
staff.
You can both consent if you wish to having/divulging information about the outcomes of each
other’s cycles. You may not wish to do this and we respect your wishes.
N.B. Please note the information donors, donor-conceived individuals and parents of donorconceived individuals can now obtain. (See under legal issues}
Document Name: PI 45 Egg Sharing – Info for Providers
Approved By: Umesh Acharya
Author: Amanda O’Leary
Version 6 (Feb 2014)
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