Screening service to 'help save lives'

Appointments at Royal Stoke as sickle cell cases rise

- Sentinel Reporter

DOZENS of families will benefit from a new ultrasound screening service bringing potentially life-saving sickle cell monitoring and diagnostic care closer to home.

Staffordshire Children's Hospital at the Royal Stoke's transcranial doppler (TCD) service will help identify the risk of stroke in children as young as two by detecting early narrowing of blood vessel walls in the brain.

The service is set to launch at University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust this month and run in partnership with visiting specialists.