Open consultation: Proposed changes to NIPE hip screening pathway

The NHS Newborn and Infant Physical Examination (NIPE) programme screens newborn babies within 72 hours of birth, and then once again between 6 and 8 weeks of age, for conditions relating to their eyes, heart, hips and testes.

An expert hip screening working group has proposed changes to the NIPE hip screening pathway and stakeholders are asked to comment on these changes.

Go to NIPE hip screening pathway changes for consultation

We are submitting a response from the iHV and would like to include the voices of health visitors, including our members, Champions and Fellows.

Collective professional response: We are pulling together a collective professional response via the iHV. Please email your comments for the collective professional response to [email protected] by 13 June 2018 so that we can collate all comments, as the consultation closes at 12pm on Wednesday 27 June 2018.

For Individual/organisational responses: If you would like to respond individually or as an organisation, please go to the Open Consultation that can be found here – https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/proposed-changes-to-nipe-hip-screening-pathway. Comments for the consultation to be received no later than 12pm on Wednesday 27 June 2018.

We look forward to receiving your responses – and, hopefully, together we can make the HV voice be heard.

PHE Guidance: Child vision screening

Vision screening for 4 to 5 year old children is recommended by the UK National Screening Committee and is the responsibility of local authorities as part of the Healthy Child Programme.

Public Heath England has developed a set of national resources to support the commissioning and delivery of high quality, consistent services.

These include:

service specification
screening competencies
teacher information sheets
screening pathway
diagnostic pathway
template letters

Go to PHE Guidance: Child vision screening

PHE: Screening newborns for muscle wasting condition not recommended

Newborn babies should not be screened for the muscle wasting condition Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, according to the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) . The current test available for the condition incorrectly identifies some babies as having the condition and misses others who go on to develop the disease.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is an inherited condition which causes muscles to weaken. This gets worse over time and leads to increasing levels of disability. It is caused by faults in the genes responsible for muscle development and mainly affects boys. The symptoms may be noticed when a child has difficulty standing up, climbing or running. Between 100 to 200 boys with the condition are born in the UK each year.

Read full PHE press release