Pregnancy: Screening

(asked on 22nd April 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 13 April 2021 to Question 174841 on Pregnancy: Screening, what the (a) timelines, (b) milestones and (c) success criteria are for the evaluative rollout referenced in that Answer.


Answered by
Nadine Dorries Portrait
Nadine Dorries
This question was answered on 28th April 2021

The target date to begin the evaluative rollout of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) is 1 June 2021. This will include women who are identified, by existing tests, as having a higher chance of having a baby with Down’s syndrome, Edwards’ syndrome or Patau’s syndrome and is expected to be complete in around three years. Once this has begun, the United Kingdom National Screening Committee (UK NSC) will be updated on monitoring at future meetings.

This is to ensure NIPT screening is clinically safe, cost effective and provides an acceptable service to those women who accept the offer of screening using NIPT. The evaluation data will be reviewed throughout to identify any issues that may arise. Once areas of uncertainty have been addressed the UK NSC will then review this to consider formally recommending NIPT as a permanent part of the pathway.

Reticulating Splines