Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the cost to the NHS of (a) foetal alcohol syndrome and (b) foetal alcohol syndrome disorders.

Nicola Blackwood

The Department has made no estimate of costs to the National Health Service for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD).

The diagnosis for babies born with FAS may not be made easily at birth, and problems may present only later in childhood, for example at school. Estimates for the incidence of FASD are still more uncertain and relate to the lack of consensus on diagnostic criteria for these conditions.