NICE GUIDELINES ON SICKLE CELL AND THALASSAEMIA SCREENING

That this House notes the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines, published on 26th March, and particularly welcomes the recognition of the importance of offering screening for Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia before 10 weeks of pregnancy; further notes that the majority of women access primary care services early in their pregnancy; believes that there is an urgent need to develop dialogue between primary care and maternity care services to capitalise on this early access by providing timely information, counselling and screening; and calls for the recommendations, as set out by NICE, to be adopted and for discussions to take place in primary care to identify ways to meet this ambitious target.