Baby Loss Awareness Week

Debate between Antoinette Sandbach and Robert Courts

Tuesday 10th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Robert Courts (Witney) (Con)]

May I say how honoured and humbled I am to follow so many hon. Members on both sides of the House who have made moving speeches about their own experiences, and those with very deep professional knowledge, chief among whom are the hon. Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Patricia Gibson) and my hon. Friend the Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Dr Johnson)? May I also thank all the members of the all-party group—we have heard from my hon. Friends the Members for Colchester (Will Quince), for Banbury (Victoria Prentis) and for Eddisbury (Antoinette Sandbach)—whose passion for and commitment to this most important of all causes really shines through, as I am sure everybody on both sides of the House agrees? I thank all those who have spoken today through their own pain, as well as all those constituents who have written to all of us to enable us to raise in the Chamber a cause that matters so much to them. If they did not write and share those very difficult stories, we would not be able to do half as much to help.

In my brief comments today, I shall give voice to concerns that my constituents have raised, and I want to support all my colleagues, on both sides of the House, who are working so hard to make change, reducing the number of deaths in these most tragic circumstances and providing help to parents when, regrettably, deaths do occur. I am very grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury for mentioning my little boy Henry. I am experiencing the joy of being a new father. I can only imagine the trauma that any parent would feel, having lost someone in those circumstances. There is no doubt that a greater trauma for a parent could not be imagined.

I shall take a brief look at the statistics. As has been said, this is a very human subject—not one for pie charts or statistics—but I think we ought to look at them, if only to consider how far we have to go, and how much more space we need to cover to get close to a situation where stillbirths, and births in labour and shortly afterwards, are reduced to the lowest possible level. One in four pregnancies will end in miscarriage; 200,000 mothers and their families are affected every year; 3,245 stillbirths were recorded in 2014 by MBRRACE-UK. In 46% of stillbirths, the causes are unknown. That is a horrifyingly high statistic, and it is vital that we continue—I am grateful for the Government’s efforts in this respect—to research, so that we can find out the causes of as many conditions as possible. It surely is not something we can be happy about, or be content to tolerate, that the rate of stillbirth in this country is higher than in so many European countries, including Germany, Sweden, Poland and Estonia.

It is a sad fact that in so many cases, the causes of death are potentially avoidable. Many who have spoken today have far greater experience and knowledge than I have, and I do not pretend to tell the House about those points, but it seems to me that the Government should consider mounting an education campaign so that mothers can, where possible, avoid any risks—the risks, for example, of smoking in pregnancy are well known, and they need to be made clear to everybody—and recognise the signs of an impending problem.

[Antoinette Sandbach]

The MAMA Academy creates some fantastic wallets. I suggest that my hon. Friend writes to his local hospital trust and urges them to provide those wallets to their mothers-to-be. I know that the Countess of Chester is doing that for mums served by that trust. Each wallet has a lot of information on the front, which helps parents know when they should start worrying, because it alerts them to the signs that mean they should go to hospital and get scanned.

[Robert Courts]

I am very grateful for that helpful intervention. I will almost certainly do that. [Interruption.] No doubt my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury will assist. That will be most welcome to mothers—and indeed fathers, who of course worry equally about such risk factors. That will be a great deal of help.

I wonder whether the Government would also consider the subject of scans. I am conscious that in this country we do not scan past 20 weeks, and that in Finland, which has one of the lowest rates of stillbirth in the world, there are much more frequent scans, continuing into the third trimester. Indeed, in that country, they also have regular checks on very young children. I appreciate that there are many important claims on resources, but ask the Government to continue to look at that because the causal link between Finland’s success and regular checks should be considered.

The theme of Baby Loss Awareness Week is support for bereaved parents and today, of all days, is World Mental Health Day. When tragic circumstances occur, all possible support must be available to parents. Nothing will ever make amends for the loss of a child and nothing will ever take them back to the day before that loss occurred. As anyone who has lost someone will realise, however, while the situation is never “better”, the realisation that you are not alone can and does help. We ought to bring that support to as many people as possible. I welcome the Government’s bereavement care pathway and the assistance provided for it by the all-party group.

My hon. Friend the Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake), who is in his place, is introducing a private Member’s Bill. One would like to think that employers would be sympathetic in such circumstances: that is a basic, human and natural reaction. I am very grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for East Renfrewshire (Paul Masterton), who gave us a very clear example of when that is not always the case. If ever there were a clear example of why the Bill is necessary, we have heard it today—and of course I support it. Compassion, as well as the time and support to grieve, is vital for parents in such tragic circumstances.

I would like to end my brief comments on a local note. I am very grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury for mentioning Horton General hospital, and I support and echo everything she says. Her passion is clear to all. Like her, I remain of the view that downgrading Horton’s maternity services is unsafe. I remain of the view that asking mothers in the late stages of labour to travel on the very congested roads between Banbury and Oxford, or from the north of west Oxfordshire in my constituency to Oxford, is unsafe. I fear for the consequences if that situation is sustained. I deplore the way the consultation was handled: looking at maternity services at the hospital in phase one of a sustainability and transformation partnership, when the issue of maternity services across the whole of Oxfordshire, and particularly west Oxfordshire and my constituency, must be considered. It is not helpful to look at such services in isolation.

The people of Chipping Norton have equally valid concerns over the future of their midwifery-led unit. It is clearly critical in such an isolated rural area, where the weather has an effect on traffic on our congested roads, for expectant mothers and families to have access to full, high-quality midwifery and obstetrics care throughout the whole of Banbury and the north of west Oxfordshire. I will continue to work with my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury and others to ensure access throughout west Oxfordshire to the very highest quality maternity services.