Pregnancy: Screening
(asked on 21st February 2025) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of expanding NHS prenatal care to include three ultra-sound scans.
The Government is committed to ensuring that all women and babies receive safe, personalised, equitable, and compassionate care. We are supporting NHS England as it delivers its three-year plan to improve maternity and neonatal care for women and babies. As part of this, all trusts are rolling out version three of the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle which includes interventions for risk assessment, surveillance, and management of foetal growth restriction.
In 2021, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) undertook an evidence review on routine third-trimester ultrasound for foetal growth. This concluded that there is no evidence of benefit to routinely scanning all women in the third trimester, compared to a more selective approach. Instead, the NICE recommends targeted scanning based on clinical need. Further information on the NICE’s evidence review is available at the following link:
There are no plans at this time to make a further assessment of the potential merits of expanding NHS England’s maternity care to include three ultra-sound scans.