Child-Parent Screening

The Child-Parent Screening Programme is a part of a national cardiovascular disease prevention programme and aims to identify families with Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH) supporting the NHS Long Term Plan ambition to reduce Cardiovascular disease.

As part of the Child-Parent Screening Programme, Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria (HI NENC) will support GP practices across the region to implement a clinical pathway which will identify children with FH through a simple heel prick blood test, taken at the child’s routine one year immunisation appointment.

What does child-parent screening involve?

Child-parent screening offers a population wide, low-cost solution to the management of CVD and is currently the best model for FH detection.

With parental consent, a child is tested for FH at their routine 1 year immunisation visit using a Point of Care heel prick capillary test. Evidence shows that age one is when cholesterol measurement discriminates best between individuals with and without FH and screening newborns or adults is less effective. A small blood sample is taken and from this total cholesterol can be measured.

Benefits of Child-Parent Screening Programme

Without treatment, FH can lead to heart disease at a young age. Identifying affected individuals before the onset of disease is important because treatments can be put in place that promote a healthy, active life and lowers blood cholesterol levels, all of which substantially reduce the risk of heart disease.

Where a child is identified as having FH, parents, siblings and grandparents can also be tested as necessary potentially identifying full families who have FH. Age appropriate medication and advice can then be offered to families to reduce the risk of cardiac disease.

Child-Parent Screening Programme National Pilot

The Child-Parent Screening Programme is currently being piloted until October 2024, across England.

Get involved

If you would like further information about the Child-Parent Screening Programme, or you are interested in being a pilot site, please contact Project Lead, Nikki Holdsworth at [email protected].