Mother was told epilepsy drug was safe. Her daughter was born blind and deaf

Rosemary Nayler was pregnant in the late 1980s when she was told the epilepsy drug she was taking would not affect her baby. Every time she had a seizure, she says, doctors told her to keep taking the tablets and kept raising her dose of sodium valproate. Her daughter, Nadia Williams, is now 37, registered blind and deaf, autistic and living with mobility issues.

Nayler, 72, from Evesham in Worcestershire, is among thousands of parents calling on the government to admit where it went wrong. She says families should have been told about the risks decades ago. Her first epileptic attack came at around 30, after she had already had three children — all born without problems and now in their 50s.

Nadia says she is terrified of the future. She lives alone with support, has two older brothers busy with their own families, and lost her sister to cancer a couple of years ago. She does not want to end up stuck in a care home. Her mother warns that if that support disappears, her daughter will not be able to live independently.

It is thought thousands of children in the UK have been left with disabilities caused by the medication since the 1970s. Over the past decade, guidance for doctors and patient leaflets have stated that valproate should not be used during pregnancy unless there is no safer alternative, and only after a careful discussion of the risks.

The Department of Health and Social Care said it recognises the impact sodium valproate has had on women and their families and is carefully considering recommendations in two reports. Public health minister Dame Diana Johnson told the Commons last month that the number of women prescribed the drug has fallen since 2018. She said NHS England and the MHRA have introduced strict measures to minimise valproate exposure during pregnancy, and that a foetal exposure to medicines pilot service in Manchester and Newcastle hospitals is providing assessments, diagnosis and treatment planning.

Mums v Big Pharma will be shown on BBC Two at 21:00 GMT on Monday and is available on BBC iPlayer.