Trust features in ITV documentary
Our Centre for Fetal Care, based at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital, played a key role in a powerful ITV documentary which was broadcast this week.
'Ellie Simmonds: should I have children?' follows Paralympian Ellie Simmonds as she looks into the often difficult and emotional decisions faced by expectant parents when they learn their baby may be born with a disability. Ellie and the production team spent a number of months meeting with members of our fetal care team while researching and then filming the documentary, including doctors, geneticists, cardiologists, midwives and counsellors. They heard how our teams guide these families, exploring the emotional weight of the decisions and the complexities involved.
Professor Christoph Lees, head of fetal medicine and honorary consultant in obstetrics, and Miss Bryony Jones, consultant obstetrician and fetal and maternal medicine specialist, appear in the documentary itself.
Our Centre for Fetal Care is a specialist unit providing care for pregnant women and their families when there are concerns about the health of their unborn baby. We are one of one of 18 commissioned fetal medicine centres in the country and just six who perform fetoscopic procedures. The centre also conducts early and clinical phase research in some key emerging areas of fetal-maternal medicine (such as the HIFU trial and Truffle 2 study), in partnership with Imperial College London, and works closely with the research and clinical prematurity and early pregnancy services.
This latest documentary is a follow-up to ITV's 2023 BAFTA winning 'Ellie Simmonds: finding my secret family', where she reunited with her birth mother.
Ellie Simmonds said: “Now having the understanding of what my birth mother and so many others experienced 30 years ago when it came to disability and pregnancy, I want to see how things have changed for parents today. I also want to challenge some of the perceptions that exist today about children born with disabilities. It’s a deeply personal subject to me, and I’m just so grateful to all those who have let me embark on what are deeply personal and emotional journeys of their own.”
Professor Christoph Lees, head of fetal medicine and honorary consultant in obstetrics at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, said: "I'm delighted that we could be part of Ellie's journey and contribute to this important conversation. Thank you to my colleagues in the Centre for Fetal Care for offering their time, expertise and passion, as well to those patients who bravely shared their experiences and helped inform the documentary."
You can stream the documentary on ITVX.
