Norfolk charity calls for guidelines to help maternity professionals hold conversations on trauma
Current guidelines on how to have discussions on trauma are described as 'piecemeal'
National guidelines are needed to help maternity professionals discuss trauma with pregnant women, according to a new study.
Researchers found that current guidance is 'piecemeal', with some hospital staff feeling unprepared for difficult conversations.
The findings, published in the journal Plos One outlined how discussing past trauma with pregnant women could be made worse when maternity staff lack confidence to explore trauma sensitively.
There were particular concerns that challenging topics such as domestic or sexual abuse, childhood trauma and birth trauma were being broached without further support being offered - and that discussions are being held without any recommended guidelines.
Fiona Gosden, CEO of pregnancy loss charity Time Norfolk, has echoed the study's calls for a set of national guidelines on maternity appointments:
"I think it's so very important that there is clear signposting, so that parents, or parents to be don't leave a check up empty handed, not knowing where to turn."
She explained why good practice around maternity appointments was so important:
"Pregnancy loss is different to other types of loss. It's a complicated loss, and it's a loss of what was hoped for, so it's hugely different, and it's important that it's talked about sensitively."
She also said conversations around maternity needed to be taken at the patient's own pace - with adequate notice:
"I think it's important that it's communicated with service users that they might need to talk about any previous experiences and so that there's a bit of warning and communication."
Researchers found that there had been a move towards discussing trauma as awareness of wellbeing has grown - but this had gone faster than NHS trusts could introduce a united, national strategy.