Does my hospital offer cord blood banking? How do I find this out? Is it a difficult process? You probably have a lot of questions like this and this blog aims to answer them for you.

Private VS Public cord blood banking

The first thing to establish is the difference between private and public banking.

Private cord blood banking is a service you have to request and set up with a stem cell banking company. It is a paid service, but your child will then have exclusive access to a 100% match to their stem cells should they need them for treatment.

Public banks are part of the NHS. You can ask for your baby’s cord blood to be donated for medical use. A little like donating blood or plasma, this source of stem cells will be available for anyone who needs it for their therapies.

One of the big differences is the availability of these services. Private banking is available all over the UK while to store with the NHS, you have to go to one of three hospitals.

Finding Your Hospital

Finding out if your hospital allows you to use a private storage bank couldn’t be easier. If this is part of your birth plan, make sure to bring it up at one of your appointments to confirm that it is ok.

You can also ask your chosen company. At Cells4Life we are more than happy to discuss this with you if you aren’t sure. We have worked with many hospitals all over the UK so can tell you right away that you can go ahead.

Better still, companies often have a list somewhere on their site. Here is our list.

The Process

It is as easy as a few phone calls and communicating with your doctors and midwife.

Get in contact with your cord blood bank and pick out the services you want. If you want additional storage options for cord tissue, amnion or placental cells make sure you pick the best package for you. Cells4Life has packages to accommodate everyone and is willing to discuss payment and customisation options with you.

After that ensure that you have let the hospital you are planning to give birth at know that this will happen and include it on your birth plan so that should things change you have it noted.

So that’s it!

It is that easy. Banking your baby’s stem cells is an option available to most people but you may have to dig a bit to find it. If you want more information about the whole process from start to finish drop the Cells4Life team an email, give us a call or request your FREE welcome pack.