Down's Syndrome: Screening

(asked on 1st December 2016) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to make a formal announcement that the non-invasive pre-natal test for Down's syndrome will be made available for all eligible pregnant women in the UK; and from what date he plans to make that test available to all such women.


Answered by
Philip Dunne Portrait
Philip Dunne
This question was answered on 9th December 2016

On 29 October 2016 the Department announced the evaluative roll out of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) for Down’s, Edwards’ and Patau’s syndromes. NIPT will be introduced as an additional test into the NHS Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme in England. The evaluative roll out will provide further information to ensure the full national implementation is optimised and safe. This will include, but not be limited to, test turnaround times, numbers of women accepting the offer of screening, impact on invasive procedures, and; information and training materials required.

Public Health England (PHE), which leads National Health Service Screening Programmes in England, is currently working through the procurement and the evaluative roll out process for NIPT for Down’s, Edwards’ and Patau’s syndromes, including the development of tender documents specification and criteria for tendering. The expectation is that laboratories will be contracted to provide NIPT for Down’s, Edwards’ and Patau’s syndromes as part of the NHS Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme as part of the evaluative roll out during financial year 2018-19.

PHE is working through the procurement and the evaluative roll out process for non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) for Down’s, Edwards’ and Patau’s syndromes. It is estimated that the test will cost £200-300 per test and PHE has estimated that approximately 10,000 tests will take place per year. The final additional cost or saving will depend on actual uptake rates (i.e. how many women take the test) and on the actual unit costs of tests which NHS England will need to agree with providers.

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