THE largest fertility centre is Europe is close to completion in Liverpool.

The £5.5m extension to the Hewitt Centre, at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, will allow 2,000 patients to be seen each year.

The 14,000 sq ft two-storey building, which features state-of-the-art laboratories and improved clinical areas to accommodate growing numbers of patients, is having the finishing touches applied before an official opening in March.

It is already the UK’s biggest fertility centre, currently treating more than 1,500 patients year.

But when it was first opened at Liverpool Women’s in 1995, it was designed for only 600, so an extension was badly needed to allow the centre to grow further.

The Hewitt Centre’s director, Charles Kingsland, said: “We are the biggest unit in terms of patients in the UK, but we had outgrown the old building.

“It had become a bit cramped and we did not have enough space to see all our patients.

“But the extension allows us to grow.

“We offer a lot more services than we did when we first opened and help a lot more people.”

Laboratory areas are already completed.

One is dedicated to treatment for those with bloodborne viruses, which ensure the virus is not passed on to the baby.

Another houses a modern embryology laboratory, sperm bank and egg-freezing facility and dedicated recovery services.

There will also be more space to house the huge numbers of embryos, sperm samples and eggs held in storage.

The centre is now able to treat men and women with a range of complex fertility problems, which other units cannot do.