The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) has recommended that screening babies for severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) should be evaluated in the NHS in England.
We blogged in October 2020 about the new start date for the SCID screening evaluation in England, which is 6 September 2021.
The evaluation will run for 2 years and will cover around two-thirds of the newborn population of England. The laboratories included in the evaluation are:
- Birmingham
- Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), London
- Manchester
- Newcastle
- Sheffield
- South East (SE) Thames
The results will inform a recommendation about whether screening for SCID should become part of the NHS Newborn Blood Spot (NBS) Screening Programme in England.
Virtual workshops
We are running virtual workshops between 11 May and 22 June 2021 for newborn screening leads who work in trusts that send their NBS samples to the laboratories listed above. The workshops are intended for:
- screening co-ordinators
- community midwifery leads
- health visitors
- neonatal unit nurses
- children's ward nurses
- child health information services
Colleagues from the screening quality assurance service (SQAS) and screening and immunisation teams (SITs) are an important part of the SCID evaluation and should hopefully already be aware of the workshops.
The session covers information newborn screening leads need to know about the SCID screening evaluation, including:
- SCID – the condition, treatment and outcomes
- how screening for SCID is performed
- how SCID fits into the NHS NBS screening pathway
- parent experience
- information for professionals and parents
- local laboratory processes and information
- movement between screening and non-screening areas
- the UK NSC recommendation and the information we hope to find out from the evaluation
- changes to the NHS BCG vaccine programme
The workshop dates for each laboratory are listed below. You will see that some have 2 dates and others have one. You only need to dial into one session.
All workshops will run from 10.30am to 1pm and will take place on Microsoft Teams.
We strongly recommend that you sign up to a workshop linked to your NBS screening laboratory, as each one contains laboratory specific information.
Registration for all attendees, including SQAS and SIT colleagues, is via Eventbrite. Please click on one of the dates given for your laboratory to book your place:
Birmingham
Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), London
Manchester
Newcastle
Sheffield
South East (SE) Thames
We look forward to ‘seeing’ you there (virtually of course)!
e-Learning unit
We are in the final stages of developing a dedicated screening for SCID e-Learning unit on Health Education England's e-Learning for Healthcare platform. The unit is recommended for all health care professionals involved in the offer of NHS NBS screening.
Drop us an email if you are interested in helping to test it out. This would involve working through the unit and letting us know what you think about the style and content. It should take about an hour and will help us make improvements to make sure it meets the needs of the audience.
PHE Screening blogs
PHE Screening blogs provide 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.