England’s phased SMA newborn screening set to start this month

• The evaluation is planned to begin in October at seven of England’s 13 newborn screening laboratories.
• The initial phase is expected to cover about 72% of babies, according to The Guardian.
• The other six laboratories are expected to join from October 2027.
• In participating areas, the test uses the usual heel-prick sample and requires parents’ consent.

The NHS is preparing to screen some newborns in England for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a rare inherited condition that can cause muscle weakness and affect movement, breathing and swallowing. The evaluation is intended to find out how well screening works in everyday NHS care before experts decide whether it should become part of routine newborn screening.¹²

The first phase is planned for seven laboratories already equipped to test for SMA. Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust said in July that its West Midlands laboratory expected to be the first to offer the test in October. NHS guidance updated on 29 September explains that the offer will be phased and limited to participating areas.³⁴

That is not the same as every baby in England being screened from 1 October. The Guardian reported that the initial phase was expected to cover about 72% of newborns. The Government says the other six laboratories are expected to begin screening from October 2027.⁵⁶

The timing matters because treatments for SMA work best before symptoms develop. In participating areas, staff will use the blood already collected for the routine heel-prick test, usually when a baby is five days old; no extra sample is needed. Parents must be given information and asked for consent before their baby is screened as part of the evaluation.²

The evaluation will assess whether screening can be delivered effectively in NHS services, including how promptly babies can be referred for care. Its findings will inform a future recommendation from the UK National Screening Committee; they do not amount to approval of a permanent, universal screening programme.¹²

NHS England published information for parents whose baby has a suspected SMA result on 30 September, ahead of the planned start month. That shows the follow-up pathway is being prepared, but the public information reviewed does not confirm which laboratories had begun processing samples by 1 October or how many babies had been screened.⁷

Footnotes

1. UK National Screening Committee, “ISE of newborn screening for SMA set to begin in England from October 2026” ↩ ↩²

2. NHS England, “Blood spot” guidance, updated 29 September 2026 ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, “West Midlands laboratory first in England to offer” SMA screening ↩

4. UK National Screening Committee, “Organisations invited to collaborate in expansion of SMA screening evaluation in England” ↩

5. The Guardian, “All newborns in England to be screened for spinal muscular atrophy from 2027” ↩

6. Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, NICE and NIHR, “Every baby in England to get life-saving genetic test from birth” ↩

7. NHS England, “Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA): information for parents”, published 30 September 2026 ↩