SOME NHS hospitals are banning mothers from collecting umbilical cord blood from their babies to use as a possible source for their future medical treatment.

Parents seeking to reserve the blood for themselves so that they can derive stems cells from it in the future are being told they must instead donate it to public blood banks.

The alternative is to give birth in private hospitals, which are prepared to reserve it for the child’s or family’s own use. A family’s chance of a successful treatment with the stem cells is much higher if there is a personal match.

Doctors have already used such cells to treat children with leukaemia and believe they could cure many common conditions in the future.

The row highlights the growing tension between individuals’ desire to pay for advanced treatment for their own families and the state’s duty to provide free healthcare for all.

King’s College hospital in south London and Watford General in Hertfordshire have banned parents from collecting stem cells from the umbilical cord blood even if they hire a private technician to carry out the procedure.

Watford General asks women to give to the NHS cord blood bank and King’s College encourages women to give the blood to the Anthony Nolan Trust. Other trusts, such as Wirral University teaching hospital and University College London hospital, ban personal collection of stem cells but do not donate to public banks.

If the women donate to the public banks, the stem cells become available for whoever is a suitable match.

Shamshad Ahmed, managing director of Smart Cells, a commercial stem cell bank storing families’ personal supplies, said: “It is an injustice that certain hospitals will participate in the collection of umbilical cord blood if parents agree to give it away to a public bank but not for their own use.

“It is clear these hospitals believe in the technology but are denying individuals this important opportunity to store their own baby’s stem cells.”

The NHS cord blood bank website compares the advantages and disadvantages of private versus public cord blood storage but it suggests women have a choice.

It says: “A public donation is made as a purely altruistic act, solely for the benefit of others. It has the potential to save the life of any person for whom the unit is a good match, including the person who donated it, if it is still available. Private cord banks store a unit solely for use by the donor or their family.”

Sophie Isachen, 37, from southeast London, has a history of illness in her family and her younger sister, Rosalind, died aged 26 from a rare blood disorder. Her parents offered to pay £1,600 to store the umbilical cord blood stem cells from her daughter, Freya, when she was born in December. King’s College hospital refused to allow the collection.

Isachen said: “We decided to go down the private route because of a family history of illness. My parents were going to pay for this because, tragically, my sister died at an early age.

“We are in the fortunate position that we can afford it but the unfortunate position that we have a medical history that would make us think it is something that could help us.”

A spokesman for King’s College hospital said: “At King’s, all donations of cord blood are made on an altruistic basis. We are committed to the scheme and the potential it has to help save the lives of thousands of people in need of stem-cell transplants.”

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