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Pregnant Women: Alcoholic Drinks

Answer

In early 2007, the four United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers considered the need for consistent advice across the UK on pregnancy and drinking alcohol. Following this, the Department's advice on drinking before and during pregnancy was revised and published in May 2007.In March 2008, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published advice for health professionals on the treatment and care of women during pregnancy. This includes advice on drinking alcohol.The Department's advice is that pregnant women and women trying to conceive should avoid drinking alcohol and that, if they choose to drink, to minimise risk to the baby, they should not drink more than one to two units of alcohol once or twice a week and should not get drunk.The NICE guidelines emphasise the importance of avoiding alcohol completely during the first three months of pregnancy, the key time for organ and nervous system development.The Department is working with the alcohol industry to include information about drinking when pregnant on alcohol labels. This voluntary agreement with the alcohol industry, announced in May 2007, is to include unit content and daily guideline information on labels. The Department expects that advice to women to avoid alcohol if they are pregnant or trying to conceive should also be included on most alcohol labels by the end of 2008.In May 2008, we launched a campaign to raise awareness of the public's knowledge of units of alcohol and how they relate to today's drinks and servings—this included communication to highlight the updated pregnancy advice around alcohol consumption.On 22 July 2008, the Department launched the Government's alcohol consultation, asking for the views of the public and key stakeholders on what action the Government should take in response to the rising levels of alcohol health harm and crime and disorder. One of the questions that the consultation asks is whether the alcohol industry should have to include information on alcohol unit content and health on the labelling of alcohol products.We are working with the International Centre for Drug Policy to influence the development of the undergraduate medical curriculum and embed substance misuse, including a specific module on alcohol identification and brief advice, within the curriculum. This includes working with the Deans of the 24 English Medical Schools, who are all independent and set their own curriculum. The aims for undergraduate medical students are that:"students should be able to recognise, assess and understand the management of substance misuse and associated health and social problems and contribute to the prevention of addiction;""students should be aware of the effects of substance misuse on their own behaviour and health and on their professional practice and conduct; and""students' education and training should challenge the stigma and discrimination that are often experienced by people with addiction problems."In spring 2008, we announced funding to develop the implementation of the curriculum and the training of new doctors, including, as a core priority, ensuring that future doctors will be able to recognise, assess and understand the management of alcohol misuse and its associated health and social problems, and the funding of co-ordinators in medical schools, whose roles include working with curriculum developers to ensure that the guidance is implemented and to facilitate integration of the guidance into their curricula.Guidance, issued in April 2007, has been developed to define the aims and core learning outcomes in substance misuse, which medical students should achieve during the undergraduate stage of their basic medical education.The guidance goes on to say specifically that on graduation students should be able to advise women on the effects of substance use, including alcohol, and the impact on foetal and maternal health. Concerning specific diseases, students should be able to describe the effects on pregnancy and on the newborn of misuse or dependence on alcohol, tobacco or illicit drugs.Currently, there are no plans to design a ““catch-up training programme”” on foetal alcohol spectrum disorder for those medical professionals already in practice.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

224699; 480 c768-70W;480 c762-4W

Session

2007-08

Subjects

Alcoholic drinks Pregnancy

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk