The Plenary of the Congress has approved this Thursday definitively the Neonatal Screening Law, a regulation that aims to advance towards a more homogeneous model throughout the National Health System and reduce the existing differences between autonomous communities in the early detection of diseases in newborns.
The known as heel prick test, which is performed during the first days of life through a blood sample, allows for the early detection of certain diseases before symptoms appear, facilitating early treatment when it exists.
Annual review of the program
The law introduces a mechanism for the neonatal screening program to be evaluated at least once a year, with the aim of adapting the common portfolio of services to scientific advances and the availability of new treatments.
Currently, the common portfolio of the National Health System includes the screening of 21 diseases, which constitute the mandatory minimum for all autonomous communities. However, some autonomous communities have expanded their programs and include more than 40 pathologies, which has generated territorial differences in access to early diagnosis.
With the new regulation, periodic evaluations may serve as a basis for incorporating new diseases into the common program.
Common protocols and greater coordination
In addition to the periodic update of the catalog of diseases, the regulation provides for the development of shared protocols to harmonize aspects such as response times, diagnostic confirmation procedures, and care pathways among the different health services.
The text also includes strengthening the training of health professionals in the field of rare diseases and neonatal diagnosis, as well as incorporating the participation of patient and family associations in the evaluation mechanisms of the program.