Overview
- Jesy Nelson visited 10 Downing Street to press for spinal muscular atrophy to be added to England’s newborn blood spot test.
- She has partnered with SMA UK and the Daily Mirror, proposing a £5 test and driving a petition that has surpassed 100,000 signatures.
- Health Secretary Wes Streeting agreed to bring forward a newborn screening trial to October 2026 with a phased rollout in England.
- The plan would test about 404,000 babies and leave roughly 163,000 as a control group, a split Nelson condemned as a postcode lottery.
- SMA is a genetic disorder that causes progressive muscle weakness and problems with breathing and swallowing, and outcomes improve when treatment starts soon after birth.