A. Galloway et J. Stevenson, AN AUDIT OF THE ORGANIZATION OF NEONATAL SCREENING FOR PHENYLKETONURIA AND CONGENITAL HYPOTHYROIDISM IN THE NORTHERN REGION, Public health, 110(2), 1996, pp. 119-121
Background: The objectives of the study were to identify whether all d
istricts in the Northern Region had a system in place to ensure that a
ll resident babies were being screened for phenylketonuria and congeni
tal hypothyroidism and to identify potential delays which could influe
nce whether a result was available on all residents before 28 days of
age. Methods: Lead professionals involved in the screening programmes
were interviewed in 1993 in all 16 districts. Recommendations for impr
oving the service were made to each district. Six months later a follo
w up telephone interview with the doctor involved in the screening pro
grammes was undertaken to identify the changes that had been made in t
he service. Results: In 1993 three districts made no attempt to match
neonatal screening results to birth notifications. Of the 13 districts
that undertook matching, two districts did no further checks to ident
ify babies without a result and five districts undertook a check on a
monthly basis only. Only six districts were, therefore, found to have
a timely fail-safe system for checking that results were available for
resident babies. In 1994, following recommendations to improve the ti
meliness and completeness of the screening programmes, all districts e
xcept-two had improved their fail-safe systems. Conclusion: This multi
-disciplinary regional audit resulted in organisational improvements t
o the neonatal metabolic screening programmes in the Northern Region.