Guidance

Congenital heart disease: information for parents

Information to help healthcare professionals speak with parents, following suspected or confirmed diagnosis of congenital heart disease.

• From: NHS England
• Published: 1 April 2012
• Last updated: 6 March 2026
  Show all updates

  1. 6 March 2026

     Removed reference to printing leaflets. Added information on requesting other formats.

  2. 16 February 2026

     Added links to translations in the details. Added link to guidance on printing leaflets.

  3. 22 October 2025

     Added translation

  4. 23 April 2025

     Adding translated versions.

  5. 25 October 2024

     Changed lead organisation. Removed references to Public Health England (PHE). Added clarification that publication was previously published by PHE.

  6. 9 March 2020

     Replaced PDF with an updated HTML document.

  7. 30 January 2019

     Updated leaflet following a review.

  8. 1 April 2012

     First published.

Applies to England

Documents

Congenital heart disease (CHD): information for parents

HTML

Details

This publication explains congenital heart disease, a condition screened for using an ultrasound scan as part of the NHS fetal anomaly screening programme (FASP).

The document explains:

• what the condition is
• how common it is
• how it 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 pregnancy
• where more support and information is available

The information is available in 10 other languages: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Gujarati, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Spanish, and Urdu.

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