A BOLTON paediatrician has backed national calls for routine screening for the life threatening disease Cystic Fibrosis.

Dr Peter Powell, consultant paediatrician and at the Royal Bolton Hospital has supported the call made by the country's top CF specialist Dr Jim Littlewood.

Cystic Fibrosis affects more than 6,500 children and adults in the UK. Despite this, more than 80pc of babies born in the UK are not tested for CF. And tests are only available in a handful of health authorities.

In Bolton as in many other areas, only regional specialist centres carry out the CF test and this tends to be on children considered at greatest risk.

The CF Trust reckons that for just £1,50, a simple test for CF could be added to the standard heel prick which is already given to every baby in the country.

"We would be keen on routine screening and are obviously in favour of early diagnosis, although those infants known to be at greatest risk are already screened.

"This test could be especially useful for the small but significant group of infants who have no family history to point to the diagnosis. It would be for health authorities to decide whether or not there is sufficient funding to make such screening a priority," explained Dr Powell.

The national charity, the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, steps up its campaign for the screening of all newborn babies to coincide with Cystic Fibrosis Week.

The charity says the test would save taxpayers money and prevent months of unnecessary suffering for affected children and their parents.

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