Having had real life experience of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), then Hackney speaker Cllr Anya Sizer chose to use her municipal year to raise awareness of the condition through the borough's first awareness event in September 2023. 

Despite being the most common neurodevelopmental condition in the UK, FASD is often overlooked and under resourced. The lifelong condition is developed in unborn babies when mothers drink during pregnancy. 

Following the successful event, Cllr Sizer formed a small group with the Mayor of Hackney and SEND cabinet lead Caroline Woodley, health cabinet lead councillor Chris Kennedy, public health practitioner Drew Hawkinson and public health consultant Andrew Trathen to create a Hackney-wide piece of work that could later be replicated by other areas of the UK. 

The team aimed to assess the borough's current policies and processes for recognition, diagnosis and management of FASD in comparison with 2022 NICE quality standards and provide recommendations to address any gaps. 

Gaps discovered by the team included: uncertainty around consistency of advice provision during antenatal appointments; inconsistent discussions targeting prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE); lack of local diagnostic pathways for FASD and no guidelines for referral of children with probable PAE; training of clinicians on FASD presentation and need to embed FASD assessment into existing pathways; and training on FASD care management/support across health and social care professionals. 

As a result, the group set a number of objectives to raise awareness and improve support for people with the condition and their families, including: clinical audits to determine PAE, FASD awareness among professionals and local awareness regarding the condition; establishing professional training resources; and considering options for consistent referral pathways to ensure streamlined access to FASD assessment and coordination of support. 

Having launched its programme, Hackney has already achieved a number of milestones, including: providing FASD awareness, identification and support for 90% of Children & Family Hubs practitioners; 100% of practitioners reporting the programme has significantly changed the way they work with children and families in Hackney; and developing four research action plans to implement and monitor changes to working and impact on children and families. 

In addition, all staff supporting the borough's over 400 Looked After Children have been upskilled to identify and support children and families impacted by FASD. 

The maternity team at the council's local birthing hospital have also been trained on how to have supportive and non-judgemental conversations with mothers about the risks of drinking alcohol while pregnant and have overhauled their record keeping system to ensure appropriate documentation of prenatal alcohol exposure to evidence future FASD diagnosis. 

Cllr Sizer commented: ‘As a local councillor and parent of a son with FASD this work throughout the borough is one of the projects I am most proud of and I am grateful to all my colleagues for rolling this out borough wide so we can reach as many families as possible. Much work has been done but there is still a long way to go. This nomination recognises and celebrates all those affected.'