Why have I been asked to come for a screening?

The purpose of any screening test is to identify individuals who may be at risk of a particular disease or condition, enabling early detection, informed choice and treatment.

During the first half of your pregnancy, you will be offered various tests including blood tests and ultrasound scans, which are offered to check for possible differences in you or your baby.

We might test you for:

  • Iron deficiency anaemia
  • Rubella immunity
  • Hepatitis B
  • Syphilis
  • HIV
  • Sickle cell and thalassemia

We might test your baby for:

  • Trisomy screening (Down’s Syndrome, Edward’s Syndrome and Patau’s Syndrome)
  • Structural fetal anomalies

When any of these conditions are detected in pregnancy, our highly-skilled specialist midwives will talk to you in detail about how your pregnancy care may need to be tailored in order to meet your individual needs and promote best outcomes. We will co-ordinate onward referrals as necessary, ensuring you are managed by the most appropriate health professionals. This may include other specialist midwives, Fetal Medicine specialists or specialist teams at University Hospitals Birmingham.

It is your choice whether or not to have antenatal screening tests and it is important you feel well informed about them first. Our midwives are happy to assist you with this, please do not hesitate to contact them as needed (see contact details below).

More information about the tests routinely offered in pregnancy can be found in your green pregnancy notes and the screening test for you and your baby leaflet.

For national antenatal screening publications, available to download in a variety of languages, please visit www.screening.nhs.uk/annbpublications

You can get in touch with our Screening Department by calling 0121 335 8259 or email bwc.anscreening@nhs.net