Overview
- Nelson shared an Instagram video showing a playful moment with one of her 8-month-old daughters, with a feeding tube visible, days after detailing intensive home care including a night-time breathing machine and cough-assist devices.
- She is launching a petition to add spinal muscular atrophy to the NHS heel-prick test, highlighting reports that the test costs about 36p and is already used in dozens of countries including the United States.
- SMA Type 1 is the most severe early-onset form of the disease, and coverage notes that outcomes improve when treatment is started very early.
- Scotland has announced newborn SMA screening will begin in the spring, and the UK National Screening Committee is reassessing its current position not to recommend universal screening.
- Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Nelson was right to challenge diagnostic delays and vowed to consider screening and wider use of genomic medicine, as on-air wording from This Morning drew criticism from disability advocates calling for more representation.