Mother who tragically lost five babies welcomes ground breaking NHS Humber policy for workers
TRUST ALLOWING PAID LEAVE FOR PREGNANCY LOSS
HUMBER Teaching NHS Foundation Trust has launched a sector- leading Leave Policy, allowing paid leave for pregnancy loss.
The policy introduces new ways of giving families support should they ever have to deal with baby loss and an extended paid leave.
Legally, there is no current obligation for employers to warrant authorised leave of absence to families who have experienced maternity or parental bereavement leave.
This new policy has been launched as a part of the “Your Leave Plus” package, aimed to support staff health and wellbeing and focus on pregnancy and parenthood. The introduction will mean that 3,600 staff are all eligible to have special support should they need to take special absences away from work.
One in four pregnancies, unfortunately, ends in miscarriage, but the new policy will allow anyone who loses a pregnancy before the 24th week two weeks of paid leave to be able to grieve and process their loss.
Prior to this, anyone who needed time to take time to properly grieve had to take statutory sick pay, something that Helena Clay had to experience.
Helena works for the older people’s mental health team for Goole, Haltemprice and Beverley as a Clinical Lead. After struggling to conceive naturally, she was ready to use IVF treatment.
“My journey to motherhood was a challenging one. I lost five pregnancies and was about to begin IVF when I finally become pregnant with my first son.
The Trust and my managers were extremely supportive of me throughout, helping me to take time off to recover physically and emotionally but I have come across managers that don’t know what to do. Having a policy and training will help open up conversations about pregnancy and parenting and make such a hard time, simpler for everyone involved.”
“With recurrent losses, each time you decide to try again it’s at the back of your mind, feeling guilty and worrying about letting your colleagues down and having to explain you need to take sick leave again is another tough part of the process.”
Now a mother of two young happy and noisy boys, Helena wants to know that reassurances are out there for people like her trying to plan their own families.
“If you want to know what a difference this policy will make, I sat with nine colleagues and only two had not experienced issues around pregnancy and fertility.”
As a part of the newly introduced scheme, partners of those who’ve experienced pregnancy loss will also be entitled to up to five days of paid leave of their own.
“Partners are also often forgotten about in this experience and supporting their mental health and wellbeing is also vital. I’ve worked with partners who have really struggled and felt isolated and unable to talk about their experiences. The fact this policy considers them and offers paid leave, both for their mental health, but also so that they can be there to support their partner, is fantastic and much needed.”
Another policy as a part of this revolutionary scheme is the ‘Early Childbirth Leave.’ This allows extended full-pay maternity leave should a baby be born prior to 37 weeks, allowing new parents to give parents peace of mind about money during an already emotionally challenging time.
Chief Executive of the Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust, Michele Moran said: “As a Midwife and Health Visitor by practice, the mental and physical health and wellbeing of babies and their families is something I am passionate about. I am extremely proud to launch You Leave Plus and to support our workforce, not only the 79 per cent of them who are women but also their partners whose support is vital to their physical and emotional recovery.
This is just one of the ways that we are putting into practice our promise to our team that their well-being at work is our priority.”