Your baby's blood is collected on a blood spot card sometimes known as a “Guthrie” card (and the test is sometimes known as the "Guthrie test" or "heel prick test").

When the testing of your baby's blood is completed, the card with the left over blood is either safely stored or returned at the request of the family/guardian or the individual themselves (if they are old enough).

The cards are currently stored indefinitely in secure storage. The reasons for storage are:

• Programme audit and quality control: Residual blood from the cards is used to monitor the screening programme. This is integral to the function and monitoring of the programme. An example of this is to double check the accuracy of the screening tests or to confirm a result. Another example is using stored blood spots for professionally recognised quality assurance programmes.
• The Code of Health and Disability Consumers' Rights 1996 outlines the use of residual material (Right 7). Right 7(10) allows residual blood spot material to be used without consent for professionally-recognised quality assurance programmes, an external audit of services or an external evaluation of service.
• The direct benefit of the family/whānau or child: For example, if a baby has died but the cause is unclear, at a doctor's request and with parental consent, the baby's blood spot card can be tested to try to identify the cause. Sometimes medical research leads to the development of tests for conditions that were not available when the baby died. This may provide valuable information for parents, siblings and families about the cause of death and can provide families with information about their risk of having another baby with that condition.
• Setting up of additional tests for the programme: Some of the blood might be used to set up new screening tests; if a leftover scrap of your baby's blood is used for this all the information about your baby will be disconnected from the blood so any results cannot be traced back to you and your baby.
• Forensic use: Very occasionally the New Zealand Police, generally with consent from family/whanau, will request access to a specific blood spot card. This is to a) identify a deceased or missing person or b) for coronial inquiries. For instance, Police may request a blood spot card to identify a body burnt in a house fire or to identify victims of a natural disaster. They have also been used in criminal cases to match biological material found at a crime scene. It is important to note that these tests have only been used to identify a victim, not a suspect.
• Court order: Courts have separate rights, which override any other legislation or policies.  Blood spot cards held by the Newborn Metabolic Screening Programme are no different to hospital records or medical files held by doctors in relation to the powers of the Courts to order access or use the sample or information. Under current law, a court can provide a written court order to the NMSP requiring the release of a blood spot card.  There have been three instances of such requests being made in the last seven years, all regarding paternity cases.

The Ministry of Health and the New Zealand Police have signed a Memorandum of Understanding relating to the disclosure of newborn blood spot samples.  The Memorandum came into effect on 28 February 2006.

The Memorandum regulates requests from the Police to the Ministry for access to samples and clarifies the circumstances in which such requests may be granted. 

The "Guthrie" cards are only used as a last resort where all other avenues for identifying the person are not practicable or have failed. From February 2006 to January 2008, there has been one request with parental consent to access a blood spot card through the Memorandum of Understanding.

Download a copy of the 'Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Health and the New Zealand Police relating to the disclosure of newborn blood spot cards and related information'.

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