This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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National genetic diagnosis service
03/03/2005
A new designated national diagnostic service providing
highly specialised treatment for couples at risk of having
a child with a potentially life-threatening condition was
announced today.
It will be funded jointly by all NHS boards in Scotland
and based at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
Health Minister Andy Kerr said:
"I am delighted that this service will be introduced as
a National Service and will benefit patients who live
throughout the whole of Scotland.
"Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) is a
relatively new procedure and previously patients from
Scotland were referred to centres in England.
"I am pleased patients will now be able to receive this
treatment closer to home.
"The treatment to be provided by this service is highly
specialised, intensive, expensive to provide and required
by a relatively small number of people. This is why it is
appropriate to be a designated National Service.
"The creation of yet another National Service underlines
the commitment of NHS Boards to work together to increase
efficiency and provide patients with the best care
possible."
PGD Service will be offered at the Glasgow Royal
Infirmary by collaboration between the Assisted Conception
Services at Glasgow Royal Infirmary and the West of
Scotland Regional Genetics Service based in the Duncan
Guthrie Institute at Yorkhill Hospital.
PGD is a relatively new procedure which allows the
testing of embryos at an early stage to determine their sex
and to identify if they are affected by genetic
disorder/chromosome abnormality.
Couples undergo a standard in vitro fertilisation
procedure (IVF) with PGD being performed on the resulting
embryos. This allows only unaffected embryos to be used
knowing that any resulting pregnancy should be normal.
It is expected that around 15 couples a year will use
this service, some will need more than one cycle to achieve
pregnancy.
This number will probably increase in future as the
service becomes more widely known and range of conditions
it is licensed to treat increases.
Initially couples may still have to go to London for
some of the tests. The Glasgow centre is only licensed for
limited chromosomal tests and it will be some time before
they have acquired the expertise to gain licences for the
range of other molecular genetic tests that couples may
require.
In the UK PGD is a technique licensed by the Human
Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.
PGD will be designated with effect from April 1 and it
is expected the service will be able to start treatment
from June this year.