Meeting of the Parliament 01 October 2025 [Draft]
I thank the member for making that important point. Interestingly, I have been involved in a discussion on young women’s health, and I think that young people would appreciate our talking about these things much more openly, so that the information is out there and that they can make up their own minds about what they are going to do.
Healthcare professionals do a fantastic job out there, but we know that they find it quite difficult to discuss alcohol consumption, particularly when a woman attends healthcare services for pregnancy-related issues. For those who work in maternity services, raising awareness of the dangers of drinking is not part of their area of expertise. We know that they find it difficult, so there are perhaps some things that we could do to help them, such as exploring women’s drinking habits.
We could also have a look at whether alcohol brief interventions might be a valuable tool, and how widely it is used by maternity services and midwives. Again, that might be something that we could work on across the health portfolio as part of the considerable work that needs to be done to reduce the prevalence of FASD.
I would say more, but other members have already said it. I will just end by saying that, if we work together, we can make a difference. This is a cross-party issue, and I know that other members in the chamber really want to see a change in this area. Let us hope that, if we are all back here again next year discussing the issue, there are some real improvements that we can talk about.