Guidance

Laboratory guide to screening for CHT in the UK

Guidelines for laboratories screening newborns for congenital hypothyroidism (CHT) in the UK.

Documents

Details

This handbook is for laboratories that provide an NHS newborn blood spot screening service for CHT in the UK. It provides information and guidelines to support screening laboratories, including:

  • the CHT screening protocol
  • details of the revised thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) cut-off value introduced in April 2018
  • the CHT preterm repeat policy
  • laboratory quality assessment procedures
  • the process for communicating results
  • programme standards and data collection

This publication was previously published by Public Health England, which closed on 30 September 2021.

Updates to this page

Published 1 February 2014
Last updated 8 October 2024 + show all updates
  1. Added clarification that publication was previously published by Public Health England. Removed screening helpdesk information.

  2. Updated the laboratory guide including the screening protocol: removed dated clinical referral guidelines and the requirement to complete ‘affected not detected forms’. Converted content from PDF to HTML to improve accessibility.

  3. Added addendum to guidance valid from 2 April 2018.

  4. First published.

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