Tiny Tickers continues to push for all newborn babies in the UK to have access to pulse oximetry testing.
We’re proud to have funded and placed nearly 600 machines in NHS hospitals across the UK – something that has contributed to the fact that 78% of neonatal units are now providing the test.
However, that still means nearly a quarter of units aren’t yet offering pulse oximetry testing – so there is no equality of access to a test that can potentially help identify life-threatening conditions.
As today’s paper in the Lancet says, “Babies with critical congenital heart disease are still dying unnecessarily and those who survive acute collapse before diagnosis have worse surgical outcomes and an increased risk of lifelong neurodisability” as a result of being discharged home with their heart conditions undetected.
Pulse oximetry testing is part of the solution to ending this, and we will continue to support all efforts to ensure equal and universal access to testing.
As such, we are delighted to be part of the working group convened by the British Association of Perinatal Medicine to establish a national framework for pulse oximetry testing. When published later this year, we hope this framework will be a crucial step in leading to every baby born in the UK finally having access to a pulse oximetry test that could help save their life.
Read The Lancet paper, Newborn pulse oximetry screening: time for equity in the UK? here.
Tiny Tickers aims to place pulse oximetry machines in all maternity units in the UK because we believe every single newborn baby should have the test.
In 2018, we launched our Test for Tommy campaign, named in honour of baby Tommy McKellar who tragically passed away from an undetected congenital heart defect in 2015. Find out more, including how you can help, here.
You must be logged in to post a comment.