Reflections from a Bereavement Midwives and Neonatal Palliative Care Nurses Symposium

I'm very proud that Fieldfisher hosted a symposium to highlight the valuable work of the National Bereavement Midwives' Forum and the Neonatal Palliative and Bereavement Care Nurses' Network. 

Following the Ockenden Report into the Shrewsbury Maternity scandal in 2020, additional funding has been made available to NHS Trusts to help support the vital work of supporting families through bereavement, not least by increasing the number of bereavement midwives from only six in 2012 to 338 currently. 

Kate Brintworth the Chief Midwifery Officer for England, spoke at the symposium about how loss in maternity has a particular poignancy given the high level of anticipation of life. She praised the work of the bereavement midwifes and neonatal nurses who dedicate their lives to supporting grief-stricken families.

One of the sponsors of the event, the charity 4Louis, provides practical bereavement support including memory boxes for bereaved families.  20,000 memory boxes were supplied to hospital trusts last year and they are building a bereavement suite for a hospital Trust in Durham so that bereaved families do not have to go back to the labour ward after their loss. 

Dr Edile Murdoch talked about her work on the project Reading the Signals with Dr Bill Kirkup to develop early warning systems in maternity units to prevent tragedies such as the Shrewsbury and Kent maternity scandals from occurring again.

Professor Siobhan Quenby, an obstetrician specialising in miscarriages, talked passionately about why miscarriages matter and how data are not currently gathered nationally about them. Miscarriages are losses of a baby up to 23 weeks. With the charity Tommy's, Prof Quenby has developed  a miscarriage support tool since research demonstrates that repeated miscarriages increase the risk of further miscarriages in subsequent pregnancies and also the chance of complications during pregnancy such as risk of early birth/still birth and long-term health complications. The tool should help those affected understand the risks better.

She discussed what is currently known about causes of miscarriage including the increased risk associated with age and that black women have significantly more risk of miscarriage compared to non-black women. Professor Quenby's research includes hopeful statistics around treatment with progesterone to decrease the risk of miscarriage for women who have suffered one previously.

Dr Christy Burden talked about the importance of involving parents in Perinatal Mortality Reviews programme It was surprising to learn that there was a time when parents were not told that a review into their baby's death was being carried out.  The work of the programme has shown the value of engaging parents in these reviews and how this can lead to improved future patient safety.

To end the morning's discussion, my colleagues Christina Gardiner and Caron Heyes provided the legal context to baby loss and spoke about the reasons why families seek legal advice, the benefits that legal investigation can bring to those suffering a bereavement or whose pregnancies have ended with brain injured babies, and how legal investigations can contribute to changes in maternity care.

More information about the legal issues around birth trauma and baby loss is available here, including links to charities and organisations that offer support.

More information about the legal issues around birth trauma and baby loss is available here, including links to charities and organisations that offer support.

For direct advice, please contact us on maternitylaw@fieldfisher.com and on 0800 047 2791

We will publish a video of selected speakers soon.