The Scottish Newborn Screening Laboratory provides a national screening service to Scotland. The laboratory is situated on level 2B of the Laboratory Medicine Building at the Queen Elizabeth university Hospital in Glasgow. The screening services provided are funded by National Services Division of NHS Scotland and accredited by the UK Accreditation Service (UKAS) Reference No. 9352.
The scope of tests included in this accreditation can be viewed here
Dried blood spots (Guthrie cards) are received from newborn babies from all over Scotland (approximately 60,000 per year) and tested for nine disorders:
1. Congenital Hypothyroidism (CHT)
2. Cystic Fibrosis (CF)
3. Sickle Cell Disorders (SCD)
4. Phenylketonuria (PKU)
5. Medium Chain Acyl – CoA Dehydrogenase Deficiency (MCADD)
6. Maple Syrup Urine Disease (MSUD)
7. Isovaleric Acidemia (IVA)
8. Glutaric Aciduria Type 1 (GA1)
9. Homocystinuria (HCU)
The aim is to detect these conditions as early as possible to allow affected infants to be placed on the appropriate treatment.
The Newborn Screening Service strives to continually improve the quality of its service and welcomes feedback from its users. For feedback please contact the laboratory Quality Manager here.
Contact Details
The main laboratory contact number is 0141 354 9277
Email: ggc.newbornscreeninglaboratory@nhs.scot
Postal address
Scottish Newborn Screening Laboratory
Level 2, Laboratory Medicine Building
Queen Elizabeth University Hospital
1345 Govan Road
Glasgow
G51 4TF
Laboratory Working Hours
The working hours are as follows:
Routine Working Hours
Mon to Friday, 8:30am – 4:30pm
Out of Hours arrangements
Saturday, 9:00am – 12:00pm
Other, Public holiday cover available
Current Information on the Newborn Screening Programme
- Laboratory Users Manual for Newborn Screening Service
- Newborn bloodspot sampling guidelines
- National Services Division (NSD) – Information on Screening Programmes
- National Services Division (NSD) – Newborn Screening Developments ( Protocols)
- Pregnancy and Newborn: Your guide to newborn screening tests during pregnancy.
- Newborn Screening Developments