Pregnancy: Counselling

(asked on 21st November 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what counselling the Government provides to pregnant women expecting a child with a disability; when the adequacy of such counselling was last evaluated; and if he will make a statement.


Answered by
Philip Dunne Portrait
Philip Dunne
This question was answered on 29th November 2017

The services that are delivered by each trust are informed by NHS service specifications. The service specifications relating to providing counselling to pregnant women expecting a child with a disability can be found here:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/e12-fetal-medi.pdf

This outlines the requirement of each trust to provide counselling and support to a woman when a fetal anomaly is detected. This will include treatment options, risks and potential impacts on quality of life/life expectancy restrictions linked to the identified condition. As counselling is provided on a trust by trust basis the department is not able to provide information on the frequency at which each trust evaluates their counselling services.

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