The Government says it is considering screening all babies for a muscle wasting disease - in what would be a victory for the Mirror campaign.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he has “asked his team” whether an NHS pilot to screen some newborns for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) could be expanded to that all get the blood check as part of the routine NHS heel prick test. Current plans are for one third of newborns - around 163,000 a year - not to be tested so they can act as the “control group” to compare outcomes with to see how effective newborn screening for SMA is - a decision experts have branded “unethical”.

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The Mirror is campaigning for all babies to be screened for SMA and a possible shift in the Government’s position comes after Mr Streeting met former Little Mix singer Jesy Nelson, whose twin babies have been diagnosed with SMA and will never walk.

Mr Streeting told the Mirror: “Jesy and other campaigners have made a powerful case for doing more on screening and there is some good news on this. Planning for a large-scale trial across the NHS is underway, where hundreds of thousands of babies for SMA will be screened from next year to help build the evidence base needed to support a national screening programme.

“I have asked my team to look at whether this evaluation can start sooner, and whether it can be expanded to involve all babies, rather than two thirds as currently planned and will be reporting back to the SMA community on this.”

The UK National Screening Committee (UKNSC) first decided not to add SMA to the newborn screening programme in 2018 but since 2019 three major treatments have been made available on the NHS which can virtually eradicate the condition - if administered from birth.

This is because SMA patients have a fault with their SMN1 gene which produces a protein to maintain the health of the nerve cells helping transmit signals between the brain and spinal cord and the muscles. Without it these nerve cells, called motor neurons, die off and so the muscles — particularly in the legs, chest and arms — do not get the message to move, and waste away.

Three treatments currently available on the NHS can either correct the faulty gene or provide a replacement for the key protein so that muscles do not die off.

Despite this the UKNSC decided against immediate rollout of a £5 blood test to check for the condition at birth.

Instead it is planning an NHS pilot so 404,000 newborns in just over two-thirds of England will be screened annually - but not 163,000 children who live in certain areas of the country to be excluded. This is so the UKNSC can compare outcomes for children before making its recommendation to government.

It means full screening rollout is unlikely before 2031 on the current schedule. At least 16 children born with SMA since 2019 have died in the UK.

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However NHS Scotland has just decided to go ahead with newborn screening for SMA and will add it to their routine heel prick test from the spring. Babies in Wales and Northern Ireland will not be screened under the current plan.

Experts and the charity SMA UK argue that an NHS pilot which does not screen all babies for SMA is unnecessary as international evidence is there that screening saves lives and taxpayers’ money. Most developed nations including the US and most of Europe already screen for SMA at birth.

Mr Streeting added: “I hope families can feel reassured that progress is being made on this, with more treatments available for spinal muscular atrophy than ever before – we want to see more children with SMA not just surviving but thriving.”

The Mirror has been raising the issue of SMA since 2021 when we reported on our front page how a groundbreaking gene therapy being introduced on the NHS called Zolgensma appeared to be a cure. The one-off injection carries a healthy copy of the SMN1 gene to the brain and halts the die off of nerve cells.

We highlighted demands for newborn screening for SMA in June 2024 in our interview with the father of five-month-old Arthur Morgan who was the first NHS patient to get Zolgensma.