Guidance

Newborn blood spot screening: sampling guidelines

These documents explain how to take a newborn blood spot screening sample.

• From: Public Health England
• Published: 1 February 2014
• Last updated: 15 December 2021
  Show all updates

  1. 15 December 2021

     Added external link to resources to help improve sample quality and reduce avoidable repeat rates. Also added information about the screening helpdesk to details section.

  2. 24 July 2020

     Updated quick reference guide (section 6) to include information about preterm repeat screening for congenital hypothyroidism (CHT) when a baby has had a blood transfusion or multiple blood transfusions.

  3. 15 June 2020

     Updated the quick reference guide to HTML format.

  4. 31 March 2016

     Guidelines for new born blood spot sampling 2016 versions added.

  5. 1 February 2014

     First published.

Documents

Guidelines for newborn blood spot sampling

Ref: PHE publications gateway number: 2015750

PDF, 534 KB, 50 pages

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Newborn blood spot sampling guidelines: quick reference guide

HTML

Sample taker resources to help improve sample quality and reduce avoidable repeat rates

https://phescreening.blog.gov.uk/2021/09/30/new-resources-to-help-improve-quality-of-samples-taken-in-nhs-newborn-blood-spot-screening/

Details

These publications set out the procedures for taking a newborn blood spot sample.

The movers in policy document sets out guidance for screening babies under a year of age with no available screening records.

Contact the screening helpdesk with any queries about this publication, making sure you include its full title.