We are so pleased to publish our second antenatal screening standards data report.
For the first time the report is:
- in an accessible HTML format
- published as official statistics
We will shortly also provide trend data.
About the report
The report includes data collected from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019 on 25 screening standards covering the 3 antenatal screening programmes.
Approximately 700,000 pregnant women in England are offered screening for 17 different conditions each year as part of these screening programmes.
Highlight of the report
One of the most notable improvements we have seen this year is a reduction in the number of providers that were unable to submit data. This was seen for many indicators vastly improving data completeness and data quality. We would like to thank providers, commissioners and the screening quality assurance teams for their collaborative work in making this happen
Main facts
The report shows that:
- FASP screening labs reported over 99% of Down’s syndrome, Edwards’ syndrome and Patau’s syndrome screening tests within 3 working days of receiving the sample
- ninety-nine percent of pregnant women had a screening scan completed by 23 weeks of pregnancy
- over 2,100 babies born to mothers who were hepatitis B positive had their first vaccination by 24 hours of birth
- there were 341 prenatal diagnostic tests for women and couples at risk of having a child with a sickle cell or thalassaemia condition
Recommendations
We make 16 recommendations focusing on 2 areas for improvement. These areas are:
- achieving complete coverage submissions (2 providers were unable to submit coverage data for IDPS-S01, IDPS-S02, IDPS-S03, SCT-S01 and 16 providers were unable to submit coverage data for FASP-S02)
- meeting the acceptable threshold (there are several providers not meeting the acceptable thresholds for some indicators and they will need support as a priority to meet this minimum level)
Thank you
The report is a testament to the hard work of everyone involved in the screening programmes at both local and regional levels. We would like to thank all those involved in collecting and collating the data, producing the report, and most of all those from the NHS who deliver the screening services.
I would also like to thank all my colleagues in PHE Screening who have helped to produce this report, particularly the data managers.
PHE Screening blog
The PHE Screening blog provides up to date news from all NHS screening programmes. You can register to receive updates direct to your inbox, so there’s no need to keep checking for new blogs. If you have any questions about this blog article, or about population screening in England, please contact the PHE screening helpdesk.