Newborn screening programme

preventive program for the detection of common congenital diseases, such as that introduced in the UK in 1969 for phenylketonuria (PKU) and in 1981 for congenital hypothyroidism (CHT)

Description
Newborn screening is vital in preventing human suffering and avoiding a high burden of common congenital disease on the health budget. In the UK, an average of over 600,000 newborns are screened annually. The newborn blood spot screening program has been, and remains, a very successful screening program and the uptake of screening tests is high with local figures showing that more than 99% of the babies born each year are being screened.