Guidance
Contacting men for sickle cell and thalassaemia screening
Recommended process for contacting fathers-to-be to offer screening for sickle cell and thalassaemia.
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Details
This document recommends a process for contacting fathers-to-be to offer antenatal screening for sickle cell and thalassaemia.
Where antenatal screening shows a woman is a carrier for sickle cell or thalassaemia, health professionals need to offer screening to the father-to-be. They may need to ask the mother for the father’s contact details.
This request can bring up issues around confidential personal information. The screening programme took independent advice from the Fatherhood Institute about the legal position for staff when they are collecting the father’s contact details. This guidance summarises that advice.
Published 1 January 2012