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.
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.