Newborn hearing loss prevention programme shortlisted for prestigious award
A pioneering Scottish programme that could prevent lifelong hearing loss in newborn babies has been shortlisted for a prestigious Health Service Journal (HSJ) Award.
The Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD), hosted at NHS Golden Jubilee, on behalf of the Accelerated National Innovation Adoption partnership, has been named a finalist in the Acute Sector Innovation of the Year category at the HSJ Awards 2026 for its Neonatal Gentamicin Point of Care Testing (POCT) programme.
The programme is the first nationally coordinated bedside pharmacogenetic prescribing pathway in acute neonatal care. It is transforming the treatment of newborn babies with suspected serious infections by introducing a rapid genetic test that helps clinicians identify babies at risk of permanent hearing loss before treatment begins.
Around 80 to 90% of babies admitted to specialist neonatal care receive gentamicin, one of the most commonly used aminoglycoside antibiotics for suspected neonatal sepsis.
Approximately 1 in 500 babies carry a rare genetic variant linked to permanent hearing loss when aminoglycosides are used.
Using a simple cheek swab, clinicians can determine within around 26 minutes whether a baby carries the rare genetic variant.
If the variant is detected, clinicians can prescribe an equally effective alternative antibiotic without delaying urgent treatment. This enables doctors to identify and prevent avoidable harm before it occurs, while ensuring babies receive life-saving treatment when they need it most.
Katie Cuthbertson, National Director at the Centre for Sustainable Delivery, said: "Being shortlisted for an HSJ Award is fantastic recognition of the dedication and expertise of colleagues from across NHS Scotland who have worked together to make this innovation a reality.
"This programme is helping us move from reacting to harm after it happens to preventing it before it occurs.
“A simple bedside test can help protect a child from lifelong hearing loss while ensuring they still receive urgent treatment without delay.
"The impact of hearing loss can extend far beyond childhood, potentially affecting communication, education, wellbeing and quality of life.
“By identifying risk at the point of treatment, we can improve outcomes for babies and families.
"This is a brilliant example of how innovation, collaboration and personalised medicine can improve patient care on a national scale."
More than 1,300 babies across Scotland have already received bedside testing through the programme. One positive result has already led to an alternative treatment pathway that is likely to have prevented lifelong deafness.
National modelling by the Scottish Health Technologies Group suggests the programme will generate more than £199,000 in NHS savings and delivering wider societal benefits of more than £14.5 million over the next 5 years.
Led through the ANIA pathway, a Scottish Government-funded initiative delivered by NHS Golden Jubilee’s Centre for Sustainable Delivery, the programme is a powerful example of collaboration across NHS Scotland.
It was developed in partnership with Public Services Delivery Scotland, Healthcare Improvement Scotland, Public Health Scotland and territorial NHS Boards across Scotland. Neonatal clinicians, nurses, pharmacists, laboratory scientists, genomics experts, point of care testing teams and implementation specialists worked together to design, test and embed the pathway within neonatal units.
The programme is being implemented across all 11 NHS Scotland Health Boards with neonatal units, helping ensure babies across Scotland have equal access to the latest advances in personalised medicine, regardless of where they live. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde was the first NHS Scotland Board to go live with the pathway.
The programme is also helping establish Scotland as a leader in precision medicine. By successfully integrating genomic testing into a time-critical acute care pathway, it has created a model that could support wider adoption of personalised prescribing across the NHS.
For nearly half a century, the HSJ Awards have been among the most respected healthcare awards in the UK, recognising organisations and teams that deliver outstanding improvements in patient care. The shortlist recognises both the innovation behind the programme and the impact it is already having for babies and families across Scotland.
The winners of the HSJ Awards 2026 will be announced at the ceremony on 19 November.
