Antenatal screening
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Antenatal screening in the Highland area
This section applies to people living in the Highland HSCP area.
Contact us
Your midwife or consultant will refer you to us. If required, our contact is:
phone 01463 705773
Who are we?
We are a team of 3 midwives with specialist knowledge in antenatal screening and fetal medicine. We are based in the maternity unit and work closely with the scanning department and obstetricians. We are just down the corridor from the scan department within the maternity unit at Raigmore hospital.
What do we do?
We review all the 1st and 2nd trimester screening results, both low chance and high chance. All low chance results are sent to BadgerNet for women to view their results directly.
If a result is high chance, women will be contacted directly by us by telephone for further discussion. Any further referrals and screening or diagnostic options will be explored, and further support given to enable informed choices.
We also work closely alongside the scan department, offering support and counselling to families should a fetal anomaly be identified at the time of scan. We attend the fetal medicine scan sessions, seeing women and their families with a consultant, coordinating any further follow up or assessment that may be required outside the NHS Highland area, liaising with other health boards.
We are a point of contact and support for families who require additional scans and management after a fetal anomaly has been identified.
Lastly, we provide bereavement follow up with our consultant team following the loss of a pregnancy affected by a fetal anomaly.
Antenatal screening services in Argyll and Bute
This section applies to people living in the Argyll and Bute HSCP area.
At the booking appointment, your midwife will discuss screening and diagnostic options available to you. The pregnancy gestation reached will also impact these choices. Before your booking appointment, please take the time to read the leaflet You’re Pregnant! Scans and Tests - the content will be discussed further at your appointment.
If you have chosen to undertake 1st or 2nd trimester screening for chromosomal conditions, where it is determined that you have a low chance result, this will be entered into the BadgerNet system. You can view this in your BadgerNet app.
If a higher chance result is returned, a midwife from your team will contact you by telephone to discuss the result and explain any further testing options, should you choose to take it. Please see Your pregnancy, your choice to support that discussion.
Results usually take around 7 days to reach the team, however public holidays and laboratory activity can impact this. Please call your midwife team if you are concerned that the results are not displaying on your app as expected.
You will be offered a range of blood tests at your booking appointment, including screening for blood-borne viruses, blood grouping, and rhesus status. Some tests such as iron and ferritin levels will be checked at the outset, and periodically through pregnancy, with your consent. You can find more information at NHS inform: Pregnancy screening.
You're pregnant! Scans and tests
Public Health Scotland has produced a leaflet explaining pregnancy screening in Scotland, why it's offered, and what happens next if a test finds that your baby might have a health condition or chromosomal condition.
The information is available in large print, Easy Read and languages other than English.
Your pregnancy, your choice
Public Health Scotland has produced a leaflet explaining what you need to know after getting a higher-chance screening result for Down's syndrome, or Edwards' syndrome or Patau's syndrome.
The information is available in Easy Read and languages other than English.
Important: Pregnancy screening
Screening tests are offered to all pregnant women. They assess the chance of you or your baby having a health or chromosomal condition. Most screening tests will show that your baby is healthy. If the screening tests suggest you or your baby might have a health condition, you’ll be offered a diagnostic test to get a definite answer.
More about pregnancy screening at NHS informMore resources
Antenatal Results and Choices is the national website for accessing support for antenatal results and choices that all Health Boards endorse.