Premaitha Health, the developer of IONA test, has partnered with Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust to provide a private NIPT screening service for pregnant women in the region.
Premaitha said that a recent recommendation from the National Screening Committee (NSC) stated that NIPT should be offered to high risk pregnant women (those with a < 1:150 chance of having a pregnancy affected by Down’s syndrome) on the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). This has led to an increasing interest in this type of screening from pregnant women. Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is the first centre to offer NIPT privately since the recommendation. By providing the test privately at an affordable price within the NHS care pathway all pregnant women, regardless of risk score, have the opportunity to access the benefits of NIPT.
Dr Kelly Cohen, Consultant in Fetomaternal Medicine and Obstetrics at Leeds NHS Teaching Hospitals Trust commented “This is an important step towards increasing the accessibility of non-invasive prenatal screening in Yorkshire. The Fetal Medicine team at LTHT are absolutely committed to ensuring that as many women as possible are able to opt for non-invasive testing until it becomes available as an NHS test. It may not be the best test for everybody, and choosing a screening test can be a confusing and worrying time. We will ensure that our patients are fully informed about their options and will be supported by specialist counselling before and after the test. We’ve chosen IONA® as we believe it is a highly effective screening test and we look forward to working closely with Premaitha to deliver the best value for our patients.”
Dr Stephen Little, CEO of Premaitha Health said: “We look forward to working closely with Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust to bring this safer test to expectant mothers in Leeds. The IONA® test’s proven clinical performance, accuracy and fast turnaround alongside our dedicated CQC-registered clinical laboratory and experience working with the NHS enables us to perfectly support other NHS hospitals to roll out NIPT to women across the UK.”