Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the NHS is being, or will be, charged for the use of non-invasive prenatal testing technology by technology providers; and if so, what is their estimate of the annual cost to the NHS of such charges.

Public Health England (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 overall cost is expected to be cost-neutral with less invasive procedures being undertaken.