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Blood Spot Collection Card
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A specially designed card is used by the South Australian Neonatal Screening Centre for all neonatal screening tests. If you require a supply of these cards for testing, please contact the laboratory in one of the following ways to organise for cards to be sent to you.
Telephone 61 8 8161 7396
Fax 61 8 8161 7100
Email : neonatalscreen@wch.sa.gov.au
For practitioners sending samples from countries other than Australia, please refer to our detailed instructions on "Sending Samples from Outside Australia".
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Parent Information Booklets 
The South Australian Neonatal Screening Centre has produced an information brochure to be given to all parents whose baby is tested. The booklet describes the test and provides a range of information for parents about the program run by SA Neonatal Screening Centre. It has been provided an information source to assist practitioners when explaining the test to parents.
The booklet can be down loaded and printed by clicking on the image or it can be ordered from the laboratory as required.
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Collecting the Sample
The reliability of the screening tests is dependent on two main things. The correct timing of the blood collection and the quality of the specimen obtained.
Collect the specimen from the infant when it is at least 48 hours of age. This allows for early metabolic changes and the commencement of milk feeds.
A quality specimen will have all the requested information on the screening collection card completed. All four circles on the card should be completely filled (from the back of the card) and saturated with a uniform cover of blood. The card should look identical on the front and the back with each circle completely saturated with blood.
The screening collection card should be air dried in an appropriate drying rack for a minimum of four hours at a temperature no greater than 30 degrees Celsius.
For more detailed information on how to undertake a heel prick blood collection, see 'Education resources on blood spot sample collection'
Sending Instructions
The collection card must be TOTALLY dry before being placed in an envelope for mailing.
It is important that all the information asked for on the card is provided. Failure to provide the appropriate information may result in the test and subsequent results being delayed.
 Cards should be packed alternating the spots so that the blood spots from any one card are resting on the bottom of the cards packed before and after it. This helps to prevent contamination between samples.
The Neonatal Blood Spot Collection cards should then be packed inside an envelope, or wrapped carefully with white paper. This first envelope is placed inside a second envelope and sealed. The second envelope should then be addressed to the laboratory (details below) and sent on the day of collection. Placing the cards inside two envelopes helps to protect the cards should the outer envelope get damaged in transit. Cards should never be packaged in plastic bags as this may cause the samples to sweat.
All samples should be dispatched to the laboratory on the day of collection.
Address for Sending a Sample from within Australia
The address for sending samples to the laboratory is:
South Australian Neonatal Screening Centre
Department of Chemical Pathology
Women's & Children’s Hospital
72 King William Road
North Adelaide
SOUTH AUSTRALIA 5006
Results
The laboratory runs screening tests each working day. Once specimens are received by the laboratory, tests are run either on the same day, or the next working day. Reports are generated daily.
After testing has been completed, the referring hospital or health professional will be contacted by the SA Neonatal Screening Centre via mail or telephone depending on the outcome of the tests.
The main test outcomes:
- A 'negative’ screening test result indicates that the test results in that sample are all in the normal range. These are the majority of test results.
- A request for a re-sample due to poor specimen or equivocal test results
- A positive result indicates that the child is at risk of having that particular disorder. These results are always provisional. Formal diagnosis of the disorder usually requires another test. This may be a blood test, urine test or both. It is also essential to confirm that the screening test results actually belong to the infant whose name appears on the screening card.
All positive results are telephoned to the treating doctor or midwife and are faxed, wherever possible, on the same day.
All faxed or emailed results will be followed up with a hard copy of the report
For more information regarding results see "How will I be contacted with results"
Confirmatory Testing of Positive Screening Results
The South Australian Neonatal Screening Centre in association with the National Referral and Metabolic Laboratories at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital can provide a full range of confirmatory tests for any positive screening results. This may be a blood test, urine test or both. It is also essential to confirm that the screening test results actually belong to the infant whose name appears on the screening card. The laboratory will discuss suitable samples for confirmatory testing with the referring doctor when a positive screening result is found.
For more information on the range of other metabolic, enzyme or molecular tests undertaken within the Department of Chemical Pathology at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital see the links below
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