Overview

National FASD is pleased to invite practitioners involved with Maternity care such as Midwives, Maternity Support Workers, Obstetricians, Commissioners for Children, Young People and Maternity, Clinical Governance, Healthcare lecturers, students, public health officials and those with other associated roles to a launch of a practical new toolkit designed to meet NICE’s call to improve the quality of services around alcohol and pregnancy, one of the leading and avoidable causes of severe neurological impairment.

With an introduction by Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Jeanelle de Gruchy

Wednesday, 21st June 2023

9:30am – 12:30pm

National Liberal Club

1 Whitehall Place

London

SW1A 2HE

Attendees will receive a certificate of attendance which can be used to support continuing professional development as part of the NMC’s revalidation requirements.

In addition to an update on guidance and legislation, an overview of the toolkit, this event will feature a conversational style panel of experts including:

• Joanna Buckard – Director of Innovation at National FASD, Alcohol and Pregnancy Toolkit author, Member of National FASD Experts Committee (moderator)

• Janet Griffin – Member of National FASD Experts Committee and founder, Birth Mum and Son

• Laney Holland- Specialist Substance and Alcohol Misuse Midwife

• Dr Helen Howlett –Senior Commissioner for Children, Young people and Maternity and National Midwife Research Specialist in FASD and Alcohol

• Professor Raja Mukherjee – Consultant psychiatrist and leading FASD expert in the UK

Itinerary:

09:30-09:45- Registration

09:45-09:50- Welcome – from Sandra Butcher, Chief Executive National FASD

09:50 - 10:05 - Opening remarks- Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Jeanelle de Gruchy

10:05-10:20- Update on guidance and publications –

10:20 -10:45- Intro to the toolkit and E-course

10:45- 11:15- Break, opportunity to network and submit questions

11:15-12:15- Q&A with the panel

12:15-12:30- Closing remarks –

Questions for the panel of experts on alcohol and pregnancy and FASD

Please fill in your questions for the panel ahead of the event here (please copy and paste this link into your browser):

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/SSWD98C

Why should maternity services, health boards and commissioners attend?

The 2022 NICE Quality Standard (204) on FASD calls on all services to improve the quality of care relating to alcohol in pregnancy - specifically the advice pregnant women receive about the risks of alcohol in pregnancy and highlighting the importance of noting alcohol exposed pregnancies for the best outcomes for the children and young people.

To meet this need, National FASD has compiled the first comprehensive toolkit for midwives and their wider maternity teams based on best practice to help them discuss with pregnant women the risks to the fetus of drinking alcohol in pregnancy. The toolkit includes practical tools to help maternity teams provide support at antenatal appointments, including aids to assist with verbal advice and pamphlets with written advice. All information is based on the latest policies, guidance and standards from the Chief Medical Officers, NICE, SIGN, DHSC and PHE/OHID and has been reviewed by our experts committee and our special midwives advisory committee. It also draws on our expert roundtables that led to 140 page The Time is Now: The National Perspective on Ramping Up FASD Prevention, Diagnosis and Support Services.

The Alcohol in Pregnancy Toolkit is especially relevant to services in England and Wales following the NICE Quality Standard 204. According to Government, “NHS England has a legal duty to take [NICE Quality Standards] into account in the discharge of its quality improvement duties. NHS organisations locally should take them fully into account in designing services that meet the needs of their local populations.”

This toolkit is a specifically designed package to help NHS organisation address NICE Quality Standard 204. It will equip maternity teams with the skills and confidence to work to reduce alcohol exposed pregnancies in the UK. It includes:

• Alcohol in Pregnancy Leaflets designed for pregnant women;

• Free to access for maternity teams to a new CPD-accredited Alcohol in Pregnancy E-course designed with one of the country’s leading e-learning specialists

• Five new posters designed to target different audiences

• Handy pocket guides for easy referral to facts

• A flip chart to aid maternity teams in having discussions

• Public display materials including banners, bunting, balloons for information tables

• Animation videos for awareness raising in surgeries

In addition, bespoke training for maternity teams is available from National FASD.

National FASD unequivocally promotes alcohol-free pregnancy and the CMOs guidance. We maintain a strict policy that our funders have no substantive control over our work, preserving our independence and flexibility. This work was made possible by funding from Diageo.

Launch of the Alcohol and Pregnancy toolkit: Audience with the experts