Ms Cora Flynn:

I was involved in setting that up with Professor Delanty in 2000. The Irish data pools in to the British data with Jim Morrow and John Craig in the Royal group of hospitals. It prospectively gathers information on women when they become pregnant with what medications they are on. It monitors them through their pregnancy and then three months after the baby is born, the outcome of the birth is collected. It stops at that point.

It collects information on all antiepileptic drugs, not just valproate. However, the reporting of it is not mandatory - it is by clinician perspective. It depends on whether that woman is engaging in a specialist service. GPs can also register the pregnancy. It is currently funded by pharma.