IVF women face waiting two years for donor eggs: Covid donation services pause ...

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Women are facing waiting lists of up to two years to start a family with donated eggs.

Egg donors, much like sperm donors, were already in short supply and Covid has only exacerbated waiting times after donation services were paused.

At Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, the wait is now typically nine to 12 months, while Aberdeen Fertility Centre puts its times at 12 to 14 months, a snapshot investigation by the Daily Mail found.

The London Egg Bank has no waiting list, but in Liverpool it is believed to be about a year for donor eggs on the NHS.

And Edinburgh Fertility Centre has a delay of around 25 months. 

The pandemic also meant that young women who previously would have donated their eggs were distracted by Covid-related worries or felt nervous about going to clinics, according to experts.

But demand has remained high, with almost one in five women over 40 who have IVF treatment choosing to use another woman's eggs.