AN AUDIT OF THE ORGANIZATION OF NEONATAL SCREENING FOR PHENYLKETONURIA AND CONGENITAL HYPOTHYROIDISM IN THE NORTHERN REGION

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.