Sands’ National Bereavement Care Pathway extended

By Julie Griffiths on 19 March 2018 Sands Bereavement Care Stillbirth

The National Bereavement Care Pathway (NBCP) for pregnancy and baby loss will be extended to a further 21 sites across England from April 2018, according to Sands.

The new sites bring the total number of NHS trusts taking part in the pathway to 32 – almost tripling the reach of the existing pilot.

The pathway, created by Sands in collaboration with other charities and professional bodies including the RCM, seeks to improve the overall quality of bereavement care and end the postcode lottery faced by parents and families whose baby has died before, during or shortly after birth.

The new sites will be working with the project team to understand the impact of the pathway and its effectiveness in improving bereavement care for parents.

The sites have been chosen as they are representative of geography, capacity and specialism and will begin to pilot the pathway from April 2018.

Five experiences of pregnancy or baby loss are included in the pathway including miscarriage, termination of pregnancy for fetal anomaly, stillbirth, neonatal death and the sudden unexpected death of an infant up to 12 months.

Sands chief executive and chair of the NBCP Core Group Clea Harmer said: ‘Pregnancy and baby loss affects thousands of families each year across the UK, so I am delighted that we have so many NHS trusts enthusiastically supporting the development of the NBCP.

‘It is vital to offer consistently excellent bereavement care and support to anyone who has lost a child or pregnancy, and that’s why we are testing the effectiveness of the pathway in such a wide range of settings; from health visiting to GP surgeries, from neonatal wards to paediatric pathology and from midwifery to gynaecology.

‘I and everyone on the NBCP Core Group are very grateful to all those involved in its development, which will make a difference to so many families.’

More information is available here.