This week is Baby Loss Awareness Week 2016 and was today marked by a moving backbench debate in the House of Commons led by my colleague, Antoinette Sandbach MP. This is a serious and sensitive matter for thousands of mothers who have suffered the heartbreak of baby loss, and they deserve the utmost respect and care when nightmares occur.
This was represented in the Commons where a number of colleagues on both sides of the House bravely stood up and told their own personal stories and those of friends, families and constituents. I wholly support the need for awareness and care improvement in this area, and by these stories being shared it is important for those women who have suffered this agony that they are not alone.
In Rochester and Strood, stillbirth charity Abigail’s Footsteps is calling for compulsory bereavement training for all midwives and maternity support staff in its drive to improve the care and help available to families in the desperate days and weeks following the loss of a baby. I am pleased to support their campaign and will be liaising directly with Ministers on this.
Since its launch in 2010, Abigail’s Footsteps has led the way in midwife bereavement training with the funding of an e-learning course and the production of an award winning film “The Deafening Silence” which chronicles the experience of a couple facing the reality of a stillbirth. The film has been viewed more than a quarter of a million times by professionals and families from around the world. The e-learning programme which uses the Deafening Silence was created in partnership with Sands and Child Bereavement UK and was gifted to the Royal College of Midwives who make it freely available to its membership of around 33,000 midwives. Now Abigail’s Footsteps wants the content to be accessible to all midwives and maternity support staff as part of a mandatory training scheme.
Kamal Aggarwal, Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Abigail’s Footsteps said:
“Baby Loss Awareness week is an important time to remember all the babies that have been lost to stillbirth, and to remind ourselves that there is still much more that can be done to support families both practically and emotionally. We believe that it is crucial that ALL midwives and maternity care staff are given the bereavement skills to support families and safeguard themselves. A commitment to compulsory training would ensure that the professionals that currently do an amazing job will be empowered to do even more to help the most vulnerable families. All it will cost is the midwives’ time”.
In addition, Medway is also home to Making Miracles which provides parents with 1-1 non-professional support and in the event of trauma offers professional counselling. I have had the pleasure to work with Making Miracles on a number of occasions and I am inspired by the work they do. This work also includes the purchase of specialist and high-tech equipment that the NHS does not have a statutory duty to provide. These machines are necessary to identify symptoms earlier and to manage and treat a diagnosis in order to have a positive pregnancy outcome.
I am proud that Medway is such a leading light in the awareness and care needed to address this little spoken matter.