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Newborn and Postnatal Services
Our services don’t stop once baby has arrived; we offer a range of postnatal care including extended newborn screening and pulse oximetry screening for heart defects, many of which are missed with the standard blood spot tests and newborn baby checks. We also offer a special postnatal debrief service if you would like a consultation with Dr Beattie to discuss your labour/delivery/birth experience and outcome and any worries or concerns you may have.
Extended Newborn Screening
Each year, over 7.9 million babies are born with genetic defects; most of these babies will appear perfectly healthy at birth and come from families with no history of the disorder. Many affected babies are not identified until the appearance of severe and often irreversible symptoms.
In Wales, the current NHS Newborn Screening Programme screens all Welsh newborn babies (approximately 37,000 per year) using dried blood spots, collected between 5-8 days of age, for 9 disorders.
We offer an extended newborn screening service called ‘NOVA’. The NOVA™ Newborn Screening Panel is based on a blood spot from a heel prick and accurately identifies 50 common inherited disorders and the genetically inherent response to 20 drugs commonly prescribed to children.
Early detection and identification could prevent possible future health problems and enables all children to reach their full potential.
Congenital Heart Defects Screening
Pulse Oximetry
Up to 3% of infant deaths are due to congenital heart defects; they are more common than Down Syndrome, affecting about 1 in 125 pregnancies, but they are often not as widely discussed. Despite antenatal ultrasound scans and newborn physical examinations, about 50% remain undiagnosed in the early stages. Sadly, many of these babies will go on to develop serious complications that may be fatal. Identifying problems early on allows decisions to be made about treatment, surgery and/or longer-term care if needed.
Ideally babies should be checked within 24 hours of delivery or as soon as possible afterwards. Pulse oximetry is a simple test which measures blood oxygen levels in newborns by using a small skin sensor placed on the hands or feet. A major British study on more than 20,000 apparently healthy newborn babies showed it can identify babies with congenital heart defects – and other important health problems – who would otherwise be missed by the routine baby check before you go home from hospital.
The screening programme in Innermost Healthcare is backed up by referral to a Consultant Paediatric Cardiologist if required.
