Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Programme
National Services Division has an ongoing role in the national multidisciplinary groups which monitor and evaluate the univeral newborn hearing screening programme.
The Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Programme (UNHS) in Scotland aims to identify all children born with a moderate to profound permanent bilateral deafness early and to promote the provision of ongoing high quality and appropriate assessment and support for deaf children and their families. One or two babies in every 1,000 are born with a hearing loss in one or both ears. Most of these babies are born into families with no experience or history of hearing loss. The hearing screening test is a simple test that will be done within the first few weeks after a baby is born.
Patient Infomation Leaflets
NSD work in partnership with NHS Health Scotland to produce information on tests available during pregnancy and for newborn babies. This information is available from the Health Scotland website.
Annual Report
2008/09 Annual Report [35 pages, 782Kb]
NHS Quality Improvement Scotland
NHS Quality Improvement Scotland, in collaboration with the services and NSD, have developed quality standards relating to the pregnancy and newborn screening programmes; these are available for download from the NHS Quality Improvement Scotland website.
UNHS Programme Protocols
The protocols document contains standard national protocols for all healthcare professionals involved in the NHS Scotland UNHS programme. In order to ensure equity of service across Scotland, NHS Boards are required to ensure that the screening service provided locally adheres to these protocols.
Scottish UNHS Programme Protocols [20 pages, 293Kb]
Training Pack for Health Professionals
UNHS Training Pack 2010 [36 pages, 558Kb]
Scottish Newborn Hearing Screeners Competence Framework
This Scottish Newborn Hearing Screeners Competence Framework document was revised in 2010 and covers the competence framework, training requirements and ongoing assessment of all newborn hearing screeners working in Scotland.
Competence Framework [27 pages, 278Kb]
UNHS Incident Report Template
All incidents should be reported to the designated NHS Board screening coordinator. The screening coordinator will collate all reports and complete the incident form to be forwarded to Mr David Comisky.
Incident Report Template [1 page, 72Kb]
Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Manager Network and NHS Board Screening Coordinator contacts:
UNHS Screening Contacts [3 pages, 35Kb]
Useful links
The Protocols and Guidelines Reference Group have developed a useful links document related to UNHS and Audiology follow up that can be accessed using the following link. National Services Division is not responsible for the content of these external sites and it should be noted that practice may vary locally.
Useful links to Guidelines, Pathways and Protocols [3 pages, 231Kb]
National Services Division contacts:
To contact members of NSD staff, please visit our staff contacts page.
Lyn Hutchison, Programme Manager
Marie Richmond, Assistant Programme Manager
Jenny Dowswell, Programme Support Officer
