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Kara
Dent, West Midlands Perinatal
Institute, June 2001
Introduction
The deficiencies in our national antenatal screening
services have been recognised since 1993, when the
RCOG formed a working party on biochemical markers
( 1).
This is no more apparent than in Down's Screening where
women all over the country are offered different tests,
with different cut-off values, depending on where they
live. Recent DOH figures show that only 71% of women
have access to serum screening, 8% to nuchal translucency
with 21% having access just to age-restriction risks
(2)
.Ideally, there would be an agreed standard nationally
with all options offered and available throughout the
country.
The UK National Screening Committee have now commenced a 3-year plan to look
at screening, in order to improve the services available and put into place
those recommendations made by the 1993 RCOG Working Party. These have been
instigated in an excellent service offered by Bro-Taf (Cardiff), preceding
the NICE recommendations in 1996. Details of this service were presented
by Bryan Beattie at the forum where he explained the advantages and benefits
seen by an integrated service that sought to offer its women more information
and autonomy in their pregnancy. Its success is difficult to qualify, as
an increased uptake of a service is not a measure of its merit. Instead,
he reiterated the importance of continual audit and improvement of the system.
References
1. Report of the RCOG Working Party on Biochemical
Markers and the Detection of Down's Syndrome. London:
RCOG Press 1993
2. Whittle M. Down's Synrome screening: where to now? Br J Obstet Gynaecol
2001;108:559-61
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