Screening System

Health care providers work together to ensure every baby born in Ontario is offered newborn screening, and every baby who has one of the diseases receives appropriate treatment.

The image below outlines the newborn screening system in Ontario and describes the roles of the health care providers involved.

diagram of Ontario's newborn screening system

Institutions and practices

Hospitals, birthing centres, midwifery practices and primary health care providers have the following responsibilities in newborn screening:

Parent education
Specimen collection, shipping and tracking
Point of care testing, i.e., screening for critical congenital heart disease (CCHD)
Providing accurate and complete information for every screened infant
Prompt follow-up of screen positives for CCHD and in the event of an unsatisfactory sample or a missed screen

Newborn Screening Ontario (NSO)

The team at NSO includes clinical, laboratory, and administrative staff who take part in the following:

Laboratory testing of newborn screening samples
Data management
Quality assurance
Education
Research and development

Advisory Council and Ministry of Health

The NSO Advisory Council (NSO-AC) is an independent advisory body of health and other professionals with expertise in newborn and childhood screening. The mandate of the NSO-AC is to advise the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MoHLTC) and NSO on its policies and programs related to newborn screening. Please visit the NSO Governance page to learn more about the governance of NSO and the activities of the NSO-AC.

Follow-up centres/community providers

When babies screen positive for one or more of the diseases tested, NSO refers them to specialized follow-up centres. We call these centres Regional Treatment Centres. Health care providers at these centres are responsible for:

Diagnostic testing of babies who screen positive
Treatment and management of true positive cases
Providing follow-up details to NSO
Education of local healthcare providers

Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario
415 Smyth Road
Ottawa, Ontario K1H 8M8

Toll-Free: 1-877-627-8330
Local: (613) 738-3222
Fax: (613) 738-0853