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Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of whether current guidelines covering preoperative pregnancy checks are sufficient to prevent risks to the unborn child.


Answered by
Dan Poulter Portrait
Dan Poulter
This question was answered on 7th May 2014

Government guidelines on preoperative pregnancy checks are set out in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance: ‘Preoperative Tests: The use of routine preoperative tests for elective surgery'

(www.guidance.nice.org.uk/CG3/Guidance), published in June 2003.

This guidance states that:

- The need to test for pregnancy depends on the risk presented to the fetus by the anaesthetic and surgery. All women of child-bearing age should be asked sensitively whether or not there is any chance that they may be pregnant.

- Women must be made aware of the risks of surgery to the fetus.

- A pregnancy test should be carried out with the woman's consent if there is any doubt about whether she may be pregnant.

- Before having a chest x-ray, all women of childbearing age should be asked sensitively whether they may be pregnant.

NHS Medical Director Sir Bruce Keogh has recently requested that NICE review its guidelines on preoperative tests in relation to potential pregnancy. This will include an assessment of whether the current guidelines covering preoperative pregnancy checks are sufficient in preventing risks to the unborn child.

Guidance on pregnancy checks has also been produced by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (www.rcpch.ac.uk/pregnancychecks) and the Royal College of Surgeons (www.rcseng.ac.uk/publications/docs/preop_test.html).

These guidelines are equally applicable to the NHS and private medical institutions.

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