If the government’s policy of ‘down syndrome’ day was to bring down NHS spending, the charity Down Syndrome Day might be forced to look at its priorities.
In a report to the Cabinet Office, the UK Down Syndrome Association (UKDSA) said it would not be able to provide a “sufficient level of support” to the families of those who have Down syndrome.
The charity said it wanted a meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss its concerns and to “develop a strategy to ensure that there is sufficient funding for the services we currently provide to those affected by the condition”.
The UKDSA’s chief executive, Alison Weir, said: “We are not at the point yet where we are saying we are going to give the money to the parents of a child with Down syndrome, but that the government can do it and there will be sufficient funding available.”
It will be up to the UK government to decide how to pay for this.
“She said that a decision on the government of the day would be taken in the next few weeks.
The Government said it has allocated £1.2bn to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), which is the UK’s only medical charity for children with Down’s syndrome.
Its director, Professor Stephen Balfour, said the organisation had invested in a number of programmes aimed at reducing the incidence of the condition.”
The NHS is now spending more money on treating these children than ever before,” he said.”
So it is not surprising that we have to spend more money to help families cope.
“The UKHSI said the NHS should also take action to reduce the number of children with the condition and that it was working on a plan to achieve this.
But Dr Alison Weir said the Government was not doing enough to help the families affected by Down’s Syndrome.”
She added: “There are families that are suffering with Down Syndrome and we want them to get better. “
We’re going to need the government, if they are going the right way, to spend money to make sure that we can continue to deliver on our promise of treating these families.”
She added: “There are families that are suffering with Down Syndrome and we want them to get better.
The Government needs to listen to us and do more.”
She also questioned whether it was appropriate for the UK to be “part of the solution” to a problem that had already been solved.
“In a country like the UK, where we have a population of 1.3 billion, we are a tiny country and we have only 1.1 billion people,” she added.
The UK has about 40,000 children with down’s syndrome, compared to 1.2 billion for the population as a whole.
It is not known how many families are living in foster care or who have access to care.