Ipswich Hospital group supporting bereaved parents urges people struggling to ask for help
They're encouraging bereaved parents to attend
Last updated 13th Oct 2023
A group supporting bereaved parents in Ipswich tells us it wants people to understand grief doesn't just end.
It comes as Tommy's Pregnancy Charity estimates that: " 1 in 4 pregnancies end in loss during pregnancy or birth in the UK.
"Estimates suggest there are 250,000 miscarriages every year in the UK and around 11,000 emergency admissions for ectopic pregnancies.
"There were 1,719 neonatal deaths (under the age of 28 days) in England and Wales in 2021
"In England and Wales, on average there were 2.7 deaths per 1,000 live births."
Stopping the Postcode Lottery of Care
An Ipswich group supporting bereaved parents says it's a group that "no one wants to join, but is needed."
Ali Brett has worked as a midwife for 20 years.
She's also the Bereavement Midwife at Ipswich Hospital, and helps run the hospital's baby bereavement support group, which she saus is a group "no one wants to join, but is needed."
She tells us it can be quite stressful but her priority is making sure that at "the most traumatic times of people's life that excellent compassionate care is given."
Something Ali has become aware of during this time, is that not all care is equal, and different regions provide different support.
This is something she now wants to change so that people can receive appropriate care during a difficult time.
She explained to us the National Bereavement Pathway aims to eradicate the inequality by providing 9 standards of care, which act as a guide, not just for each hospital, but for each family.
Ali explained that midwives in each area follow these to make sure the service they provide is equal in all circumstances:
"That means that staff are well trained in bereavement care.
"That their communication skills are good, that they know how to help families with memory-making opportunities.
"That they're communicating with the wider team so that there's a signal to alert GPs, health visitors and community midwives that there's been a loss so there are no awkward phone calls later on."
She also wants the rooms families use to be refurbished, pleasant and nonclinical, believing having everyone understand these standards "helps to soften and lessen the trauma that they're going through."
Support that is available
At Ipswich Hospital the Baby Bereavement Group meets up on the last Tuesday of every month.
Ali told us it is a friendly group, with no pressure to feel okay, and members able to talk freely about what they're feeling as well as what's going on in their daily lives and the next steps they want to take.
They also have the Tree of Remembrance in Holywells Park, which allows parents to have a "quiet moment to contemplate and think about their own personal experience, or that of a loved one that's there as well."
Ali encourages anyone to get in touch who is going through a difficult time and reminds us they "work closely with all the national charities."