To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to introduce routine screening in pregnancy for Vasa Praevia.
Answered on
14 February 2019
There are currently no plans to introduce routine screening in pregnancy for vasa praevia.
The United Kingdom National Screening Committee (UK NSC) reviewed antenatal screening for vasa praevia in 2017 and recommended that a population screening programme for vasa praevia should not be offered. This is because there is not enough evidence to suggest that screening every pregnancy for vasa praevia would provide more benefit than harm.
Due to the uncertainty of whether screening all women is the best approach or whether it would be better to test smaller groups of women whose pregnancies are known to be at higher risk of vasa praevia, the UK NSC convened a multidisciplinary group to model the potential impact of some vasa praevia detection strategies. This work will be completed in spring 2019.
The UK NSC will review the evidence for vasa praevia in 2020/21 or earlier in light of new published peer reviewed evidence.