Founder, Trustee and Executive Officer – Foetal Anti-Convulsant Syndrome New Zealand (FACSNZ)
Out of all the people who have come to me, no one had ever been asked about what medication they were on during pregnancy. All the parents that come to me, they haven’t been told the full information. In some cases, they haven’t been told any information in its conversations around pre-pregnancy. As a result people are quite untrusting of healthcare professionals. Going to these same people and saying look, I think my child has Fetal Anticonvulsant Syndrome is difficult. To pre-empt that, I use materials like the European consensus paper and send that to a mum so as soon as they start talking with their healthcare professional. The can provide a whole lot of information for them as well, which can’t be easily disputed.