Preoperative screening for sickle cell disease in children: a pragmatic solution in a UK district hospital

Sickle cell disease and other hemoglobin disorders are becoming increasingly prevalent across the whole of Europe and hence within our anesthetic practice. Despite this, there still appears to be a largely varied consensus on when preoperative sickle cell testing is necessary in the pediatric population. In this article, we describe one approach adopted in a district hospital within London to simplify this problem.