NHS help for parents after death of babies criticised

CHARITIES ARE urging the NHS to improve “inconsistent and under-resourced” bereavement care for parents whose babies die shortly after they are born.

A report by stillbirth and neonatal death charities Sands and Bliss, for babies born premature and sick, said most services lack sufficient specialist staffing input and appropriate facilities to support grieving families.

They said improvements to bereavement care are urgently needed because every week in the UK around 40 babies die during the neonatal period – from birth to 28 days old.

The care that bereaved families receive before, during and afterwards can have a critical impact upon their wellbeing in the months and years ahead, the charities said.

Their jointly-produced Audit of Bereavement Care Provision in UK Neonatal Units found that despite instances of good practice by individual nurses and doctors, many services are not set up to deliver consistent high quality bereavement care. Health professionals are also not getting the training and support they need to perform this vital role.

The report recommends steps that all NHS Trusts and Boards can take to improve, drawing from the National Bereavement Care Pathway, a partnership between government, charities and the NHS, that sets out the standards for providing excellent care to anyone affected by pregnancy and baby loss.

The findings are revealed as the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show a rise in infant mortality that is driven by an increasing neonatal death rate.

While in recent years stillbirths have begun to fall, neonatal deaths have not, refocusing the significant challenge of meeting the Government’s target to reduce perinatal deaths by 20 per cent by 2020 and 50 per cent by 2025.

Key findings of the audit include a wide variation in the quality of bereavement rooms.