Inadequate care for bereaved parents

Antoinette Sandbach, MP for Eddisbury in Cheshire, has criticised bereavement services in healthcare as ‘not good enough’, following an investigation into the support available.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), one in every 216 births in the UK in 2013 was a stillbirth, while one in every 370 babies died within the first four weeks of life.

In 2009 Sandbach’s son died from sudden infant death syndrome. She criticised the health system for not providing any adequate bereavement counselling near her location and only received help from a charity who paid for a counsellor to visit her at home.

Sandbach told the Victoria Derbyshire programme: "Parents who are coping with the pain bewilderment and grief of losing a child should not need to battle for support.

"The best hospital trusts have a clear pathway to that support and the Department of Health (DoH) needs to use the resources it has committed to ensure that is available across the NHS."

The Stillbirth and neonatal death charity (Sands) has recommended that each hospital should have a dedicated midwife specifically trained in bereavement care, who can ensure the entire team is trained.

Cheryl Tithererly, a spokesperson for the charity, said: ”The impact empathetic, sensitive, individualised care has on parents is huge. They remember the care they receive, and good care can make a huge difference to their memories of that difficult experience and make a huge difference to their grieving.”

Ben Gummer, minister for Neonatal Care, said: "The problem is a smaller one than it was some years ago but it's still not good enough. You might get some hospitals with a good bereavement suite but there isn't a full-time bereavement nurse, and there might not be good counselling after a death.

"What we need to do is make sure we have a really joined-up pathway in all hospitals so we provide consistent support."