Preoperative screening for sickle cell disease and guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)

We are writing to draw attention to the change in NICE guideline 1.4 that was published in April 2016 and states that patients over the age of 16 should not be routinely offered testing for sickle cell disease or sickle cell trait before operation. Rather, it advises that patients should be asked if they or any member of their family have the disease.1 The guidance goes on to discuss the fact that the number of operations completed by the National Health Service (NHS) in the year 2012-2013 increased by 60% to 10.6 million, compared with those in 2002–2003, and therefore "even a small percentage of unnecessary preoperative testing can affect a large number of people".

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