Dear all,
The Leicester screening programme for Down's Syndrome consists of an outdated test, the Triple Test, which is not in line with current government guidelines because it is inaccurate. This means that many pregnancies affected by Down's syndrome will not be picked up on screening. In addition, many unaffected pregnancies will have a false positive result - most of these women will go on to have an amniocentesis which carries a 1% risk of miscarriage. So healthy pregnancies are being put at risk of medically-induced miscarriage because our local Trust will not fund the up-to-date test. Government guidelines state that the new test should have been available nationwide from April 07, and Leicester is not introducing it until October 08. The up-to-date test IS available, but only within the private sector, at a cost of approx £200. Despite outsourcing numerous other medical and surgical procedures to the private sector locally, UHL refuses to purchase antenatal screening from the private sector. Pregnant women are thus being discriminated against (under the Sex Discrimination Act) and women of lower socioeconomic status are being further marginalised, being less likely to have the information and resources to access the test privately. Having contacted the local Head of Service for antenatal care and got nowhere, I feel that the only way forward with this issue is through public pressure. Please let me know your thoughts and speak to your families, midwives, GPs and friends about this issue.