Procedures, guidelines and reports

The guidelines for health practitioners will assist practitioners to discuss screening options in a nationally consistent and safe way, and provide pregnant people and whānau with information to make an informed decision about screening. The guidelines are intended for all practitioners involved in aspects of antenatal screening for Down syndrome and other conditions.

Updated Antenatal screening for Down syndrome and other conditions: Guidelines for Health Practitioners

• The Antenatal screening for Down syndrome and other conditions: Guidelines for health practitioners have been updated.
• The content of the guidelines has been updated for accuracy, format, presentation, and relevance.
• These guidelines provide health practitioners with clear, concise, and consistent guidance about the screening and are intended for all practitioners involved in aspects of the screening.

Please discard all previous versions of the guidelines.

These Guidelines will be made more accessible as web content early 2025, watch this page for updates.

The health practitioner referring the person for screening must:

• provide written and verbal information about screening to the person and their family/whānau, and support them to obtain further information if appropriate
• discuss antenatal screening for Down syndrome and other conditions as early as possible in the pregnancy, to allow people the opportunity to consider participation in screening, ask questions, and seek further information
• confirm and document informed consent (which may be verbal) prior to ordering screening
• agree how results will be communicated to the pregnant person and by whom.

As a primary screening test, NIPS is currently a user pays, non-scheduled test.

NIPS is considered a screening test and does not replace current diagnostic testing using amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling. Specialist referral is recommended when there is:

• known fetal abnormality
• a significantly raised nuchal translucency (NT)
• an increased chance result from first trimester combined screening or second trimester maternal serum screening.

In these situations, NIPS may be offered by specialist services following initial consultation with the pregnant person, however a private NIPS without specialist input is not appropriate. Lead maternity carers should check with their local specialist service (ie, Maternal Fetal Medicine) to determine whether funded NIPS is offered to people who receive an increased chance screening result.

Further information