Access to perinatal cardiology in the United Kingdom.

The Great Britain's audit of important cardiac diagnoses made antenatally suggests that postcode inequality may exist. Social inequality augmented by decreased access to appropriate health care has been shown to influence both the predisposition to coronary artery disease and its outcome in the adult population. Ultrasound screening at 18-20 weeks of gestation detects at least 85% of spinal and renal abnormalities in the fetus, and yet overall only 23% of structural cardiac abnormalities were detected in the survey. The opportunities for antenatal detection of congenital heart disease occur at a woman's local hospital rather than in specialist centres.