Background

 Screening policy is set by the Scottish Government Health Directorates on the advice of the UK National Screening Committee and other appropriate bodies. NSD helps to ensure consistent, effective, coordinated national screening programmes for the people of Scotland.

Pregnancy Screening

Pregnancy screening identifies mother and babies who may have rare but serious conditions. Most mothers and babies screened will not have any of the conditions but, for the small number that do, the benefits of screening are enormous. Early treatment can improve their health and prevent severe disability or even death.  All pregnant women in Scotland are offered pregnancy screening for the following conditions:

  • Communicable Diseases
  • Haemoglobinopathies
  • Down’s syndrome
  • Fetal Anomalies

Newborn Hearing Screening

The Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Programme (UNHS) in Scotland aims to identify all children born with a moderate to profound permanent bilateral deafness early and to promote the provision of ongoing high quality and appropriate assessment and support for deaf children and their families. One or two babies in every 1,000 are born with a hearing loss in one or both ears. Most of these babies are born into families with no experience or history of hearing loss. The hearing screening test is a simple test that will be done within the first few weeks after a baby is born.

Newborn Blood Spot Screening

Newborn blood spot screening identifies babies who may have rare but serious conditions. Most babies screened will not have any of the conditions but, for the small number that do, the benefits of screening are enormous. Early treatment can improve health and prevent severe disability or even death. The programme screens for the following conditions:

  • Phenylketonuria (PKU)
  • Congenital Hypothyroidism (CHT)
  • Cystic Fibrosis (CF)
  • Medium Chain Acyl-CoA Dehydrogenase Deficiency (MCADD)
  • Sickle Cell Disorders (SCD)

From 20th March 2017 newborn bloodspot screening will be expanded to include 4 additional Inherited metabolic conditions:

  • Maple Syrup Urine Disease (MSUD)
  • Isovaleric acidaemia (IVA)
  • Glutaric Aciduria type 1 (GA1)
  • Homocystinuria (HCU)

A Pregnancy and Newborn Screening Timeline has been developed to show parents and professionals the order of antenatal and newborn screening tests.

 

In addition the link below takes you to a simple checklist developed for Health Professionals involved in the Pregnancy and Newborn (P&N) screening programmes. More specifically, the checklist contains helpful tips and techniques that can be used when discussing the P&N screening tests with pregnant women, mothers to be, fathers and fathers to be. The checklist contains links to more tools and sources of information that can be useful when describing the screening tests and obtaining consent. The resource was created with help from colleagues that were part of the group that reviewed the P&N booklets and NHS Education for Scotland.

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