PREGNANT women are paying almost £200 for Down's syndrome tests at private clinics because free screening is not routinely available on the NHS in Scotland, an investigation by The Scotsman has revealed.
One clinic in Edinburgh is attracting 600 Scottish patients a year because health boards are refusing to provide the tests.
The test is carried out to identify the risk of abnormalities such as Down's syndrome, and experts argue the procedure – m
ore widely available in England and Wales – should be free to all mothers in Scotland.
In March, guidelines from NICE – the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence – recommended that all pregnant women be offered the "nuchal translucency scan" and a blood test for Down's syndrome during the first trimester.
Pat O'Brien, a consultant obstetrician at University College Hospital, London, said the scan – offered between 11 and 14 weeks – should be more widely available in Scotland.
He added:
"There has been a real shortage nationally of sonographers. They need to be trained up to do the nuchal measurement.
"The main advantage (of the nuchal test] is that it is done early and you have decisions early. If it turns out that the baby has Down's syndrome and the woman wants a termination...the earlier she gets the information the better."
In England, around 30 per cent of hospitals are now offering women the nuchal scan.
But NHS insiders said most Scottish hospitals had neither the staff nor the equipment to provide the service.
The Scotsman has found that, of the 14 health boards in Scotland, only NHS Lothian plans to offer the tests routinely to pregnant women from September, as part of a £500,000 investment in facilities and training.
NHS Borders offers the scan to "at risk" women who are aged 38 or over and hopes to make the service more widely available by the end of the year. In Greater Glasgow and Clyde, the test is not routinely available but the aim is to provide an additional scan next year.
The procedure involves a blood test and an ultrasound scan, measuring the thickness of the baby's neck, and it is said to be about 90 per cent accurate in picking up a high risk of Down's syndrome.
The current situation leaves anxious mothers in other areas having to turn to the private sector. Edinburgh-based Healthcare Now is one of the few private clinics in Scotland to provide the test, at a cost of £190.
Terry Brown, its director, said that demand was so great that they plan to open a satellite clinic in St Andrews in August.
"We are getting busier. We get about 600 pregnant women a year to do the test," he said. "Women want to know whether they are high-risk."
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "
A working group has been considering the issue of nuchal fold testing and an announcement will be made in due course."
