Guidance

Sickle cell and thalassaemia screening: handbook for laboratories

These documents set out policy and standards for laboratories working with the sickle cell and thalassaemia (SCT) screening programme.

• From: Public Health England
• Published: 1 October 2012
• Last updated: 5 December 2017 — See all updates

This publication was withdrawn on 8 April 2022

This guidance is out of date. See the SCT screening: handbook for antenatal laboratories and SCT screening: handbook for newborn laboratories for current guidance.

Documents

[Withdrawn] Sickle cell and thalassaemia handbook for antenatal laboratories

PDF, 1010 KB, 57 pages

[Withdrawn] Sickle cell and thalassaemia handbook for newborn laboratories

PDF, 1.55 MB, 34 pages

[Withdrawn] Sickle cell and thalassaemia screening: tandem mass spectrometry newborn screening pilot study

PDF, 476 KB, 51 pages

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Details

The handbook for laboratories sets out policy and standards for laboratories and includes contact details for the laboratory support service.

The handbook includes:

• laboratory working standards
• testing algorithms
• referral guidelines
• risk assessment procedures
• laboratory support services

The sickle cell and thalassaemia (SCT) screening programme issues laboratory updates between editions of the handbook.

Laboratory professionals working in the newborn screening laboratories should also refer to the other 2 documents in this publication:

• tandem mass spectrometry (MS) for sickle cell and thalassaemia newborn screening pilot study
• action values for MS/MS newborn blood spot sickle cell disease screening

These 2 documents include information on the action values to be used in newborn screening laboratories that use MS/MS as their screening method for sickle cell disease. They also include the background and evidence to support the action values.

The UK National Haemoglobinopathy Reference Laboratory (NHRL) in Oxford provides a dedicated sickle cell and thalassaemia laboratory support service for antenatal and newborn laboratories and other healthcare professionals involved in the screening programme.

UK National Haemoglobinopathy Reference Laboratory (NHRL)

UK National Haemoglobinopathy Reference Laboratory
John Radcliffe Hospital
Oxford

Email lab.support@nhs.net

Telephone 01865 572 767

Published 1 October 2012
Last updated 5 December 2017 + show all updates

1. 5 December 2017

   Updated action values for MS/MS newborn blood spot sickle cell disease screening.

2. 2 November 2017

   Removed out-of-date 2012 handbook.

3. 18 September 2017

   Updated handbook for antenatal laboratories for sickle cell and thalassaemia. This is the fourth edition, updating the edition published in October 2012..

4. 28 June 2017

   Added 'Recommended quality control for antenatal screening for sickle cell disease'.

5. 27 February 2017

   Added new publication 'Recommended quality control for newborn screening for sickle cell disease'.

6. 26 January 2017

   Uploaded new document on newborn laboratories for sickle cell and thalassaemia.

7. 30 December 2015

   Added tandem mass spectrometry documents.

8. 1 October 2012

   First published.