Last Friday, Nigel Huddleston MP visited the Meadow Birth Centre at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital for the launch of the Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Trust’s awareness programme on changes to guidance on pregnancy and alcohol.
In January 2016 the Chief Medical Officers updated their guidance on pregnancy and alcohol to recommend no alcohol is consumed in pregnancy. However a new survey of pregnant women has found that over 40% of women carry on drinking during pregnancy.
The survey highlighted the critical role that midwives have in educating women. Of the women who were aware of the new guidelines, most were informed by a midwife or health visitor (36%) while the media (22%) and online (17%) were also identified as other significant sources of information.
For this reason the FASD Trust are launching a new campaign, targeting midwives throughout the UK with the simple message “My baby’s too young to drink”. Midwives will receive a warning poster highlighting the dangers of drinking during pregnancy, as well as further information about FASD, resources to help boost awareness, and a helpline number for support.
At the Worcestershire Royal, Nigel met Rachel Duckett (Interim Divisional Medical Director), Cathy Garlick (Divisional Director of Operations) and Fay Baillie (Divisional Director of Nursing and Midwifery).
Nigel said,
“It was a huge pleasure to meet everyone on Friday. I really was deeply impressed by all I saw and heard at the Meadow Birth Centre, and pleased to have the chance to support this important awareness campaign.
FASD leaves a baby with a range of physical, behavioural and cognitive difficulties for the rest of their life. I know no mother would want their child to have to go through this which is why it is so important that we raise the awareness of why women should not drink alcohol during pregnancy. I know this is something midwives locally are strongly supportive of and with their support hope this campaign will be a success.”
ENDS
For more information contact Thomas Barlow on 0207 219 0171 or [email protected].
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