UK Parliament reviews 22q11.2DS Newborn Screening

On June 5th, 2018, David Duguid MP raised a bill (video link) in the Parliament of the United Kingdom (UK) to require the Health Secretary to conduct a review into 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome. It will require the National Health Service (NHS) to publish a strategy to deal with the condition. Specifically, Mr Duguid called for neonatal blood spot screening to identify patients with a chromosome 22q11.2 deletion in the newborn period.

On March 20th, 2019 this initiative took a great step forward in the British Parliament. Please see the exchange in this video (starting from 47:36)]. David Duguid MP, along with the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) that he chairs, called for 22q11.2 deletion syndrome to be added to the newborn blood spot test. The Prime Minister, Teresa May, offered to ask the Department of Health and Social Care to respond. For more information and updates, please follow David Duguid on Twitter or visit Max Appeal's website on the APPG.

The 22q11.2 Society thanks the charity Max Appeal, Mr. Duguid, the APPG, and Mrs. May, for helping to add this important condition to the newborn screen test in the UK.