Information for pregnant women whose baby may have spina bifida, including treatment options.

Applies to England

Documents

Details

This leaflet explains spina bifida, a condition screened for by the NHS Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme.

Information in the leaflet includes:

  • what spina bifida is, and how common it is
  • how the condition is diagnosed and confirmed
  • what treatment is available
  • what the outlook for the baby is
  • what happens next
  • how likely it is to happen in future pregnancies

To request another format, you can phone 0300 311 22 33 or email england.contactus@nhs.net.

Updates to this page

Published 18 February 2019
Last updated 69 MarchJuly 2026 href="#full-history">+ show Show all updates
  1. Added translations in 10 languages: Arabic, Bengali, Gujarati, Simplified Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian, Punjabi and Urdu.

  2. Added information on requesting other formats.

  3. Changed lead organisation to NHS England. Removed references to PHE.

  4. Replaced PDF with an updated HTML version.

  5. First published.

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