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Guidance

Down’s syndrome, Edwards’ syndrome and Patau’s syndrome: options after a higher chance screening result

Information for pregnant women with singleton (having only one baby) and twin pregnancies who have received a higher-chance result from the combined or quadruple screening test

Updates to this page

From:
NHS England
Published:
1 June 2021
Last updated:
15 July 2026
Show all updates

  1. Amendments to text of sections ‘NIPT Choices’, ‘NIPT results’ and ‘Lower chance result’, following NIPT implementation into NHS FASP Down’s syndrome, Edwards’ syndrome and Patau’s syndrome screening pathway (from 01 April 2026).

  2. Added information on requesting other formats.

  3. Updated NHS England contact information

  4. Removed references to PHE, and wording now aligned according to Screening tests for you and your baby (STFYAYB). Clarified information on NIPT choices, in particular when women receive a very high chance result (between ‘1 in 2’ and ‘1 in 10’) from the combined or quadruple tests.

  5. Addition of plain A4 PDF version for printing, to provide for people unable to access this information online.

  6. Added text description for 'options after higher chance screening result' flowchart.

  7. Addition of 12 language translations.

  8. First published.

Applies to England

Documents

Your choices after a higher chance screening result

HTML

Text summary of options after higher chance screening result

HTML

Down’s syndrome, Edwards’ syndrome and Patau’s syndrome: options after a higher chance screening result – for print

PDF, 200 KB, 9 pages

Details

This information should support, but not replace, the discussions pregnant women have with healthcare professionals.

The information is available in 12 other languages: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, French, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Somali and Urdu.

This information is available in A4 PDF format (in English) to print out and provide for people who cannot access digital information (see list above).

To request another format, you can phone 0300 311 22 33 or email england.contactus@nhs.net.

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