Baby Loss Awareness Week
Debate between Lee Pitcher and Jim Shannon(1 day, 21 hours ago)
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Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (Lizzi Collinge). I thank her for sharing her personal story, as many others have in this Chamber. Those personal stories remind us all of the grief, the loss and the pain. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for allowing this important debate to be brought forward.
Baby Loss Awareness Week provides an important opportunity to raise awareness and to reflect on loss. Everyone who has spoken tonight has reflected on loss, whether directly or through friends and family. However, we must recognise that the impact of baby loss extends beyond this week. It is not just this week; it is every other week of the year. Families continue to carry their grief long after this campaign ends.
Losing a baby, both before and after term, is devastating. Parents speak of the potential of what could have been, of the hopes and dreams they had for their child and the milestones that they believed they would celebrate, but that were not to be. With this loss comes immense grief and anxiety, and the impact, not only on the mother but on the wider family circle, cannot be overestimated.
I know that the mums, the dads and the siblings will probably feel the pain more, but the grandparents, aunties, uncles, sisters and brothers all feel it as well, because they are all living through their family member, hoping that the new life will be something they can enjoy as well. For many families, this continues to affect future pregnancies. Parents report feeling constant fear and anxiety, waiting with grim anticipation for this tragic event to happen again. Sadly, for some families it does.
My mother had four children, but she also lost four. My speechwriter Naomi, who is a very busy girl, also lost her first baby. Many of my constituents tell me of their loss, and this debate allows me to express, on their behalf, their sorrow and the fact that it means so much to them.
Supporting women through and after this loss should be a priority. We must advocate for open communication among friends and family, as many women have shared that talking about their loss has helped their healing and made them realise that they are not alone in this experience—and they are not alone in this experience. They have their family, and many others have been through the same pain.
Supporting women in this loss is essential, but we must also do everything we can to prevent loss, where possible. I drew attention in an earlier intervention to the research suggesting that giving women access to specialised care after their first miscarriage could help to prevent baby loss.
Lee Pitcher (Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme) (Lab)
My daughter is a rainbow baby. It is amazing that we managed to have her, but the hurt and the pain to get to that position, when you have lost children in between, is absolutely unbelievable. Does the hon. Gentleman agree with me, based on what he has just said, that it is so important that after that first loss, as Tommy’s has suggested, intervention and professional support is given immediately, both in terms of investigating and understanding the cause and in terms of mental health support?
Jim Shannon
I totally agree with the hon. Gentleman, as I think does everybody in the Chamber. Currently, specialist care is offered only after three miscarriages. Estimates suggest that if early intervention were offered after one miscarriage, potentially around 10,000 losses could be prevented each year in the UK. That is the magnitude of just one step in the right direction. I look forward to the Minister’s response, and I hope that she can give us some encouragement. She is compassionate, and she understands how all of us in the Chamber feel about this issue, so I hope we can get that reassurance.
I want to speak about Northern Ireland, as the hon. Member for Lagan Valley (Sorcha Eastwood) already has done. I sincerely welcome the recent changes in Northern Ireland. We became the first region in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to provide paid leave to both parents affected by miscarriage. It is really important that our Minister took that step in the right direction. Maybe it is something that the Secretary of State would consider implementing here on the mainland where it would help many people. It is estimated that around 9,000 people per year in Northern Ireland are affected by miscarriage, which leaves me in no doubt that the change will have a real impact on families in Northern Ireland.
Further efforts have been made in Northern Ireland, including through the baby loss certificate scheme—perhaps a small thing but it is has a big effect. Certificates are now available to anyone who has experienced a pregnancy loss before the end of the 24th week of pregnancy. The formal recognition of the loss offers families, who previously went unrecognised, a degree of comfort and closure.
In an intervention on the hon. Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Andy MacNae), I spoke about the importance of having a chaplain or minister available to give the succour and care that is sometimes needed. There is a spiritual dimension to loss. As a Christian, it would mean a whole lot to me, but I think it would mean a whole lot to others as well if they had that opportunity. Perhaps the Secretary of State can provide some reassurance on that as well.
We must ensure that the impact of these schemes is properly evaluated so that we can understand how effective they are in supporting bereaved families. If the evidence shows that measures are making a meaningful difference, this House must consider how similar support can be implemented across the UK.
It is clear that baby loss has a lasting impact. Every baby lost represents a life that could have been lived and a future that might have been. We must show compassion and understanding to those affected, not only during Baby Loss Awareness Week but every day of the year.
Pharmacies: Government Funding
Debate between Lee Pitcher and Jim Shannon(1 month ago)
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Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Betts. I say a big thank you to the hon. Member for Leicester East (Shivani Raja) for bringing this subject to our attention.
As the DUP’s health spokesperson, I am particularly concerned about the amount of support available to our local pharmacies. As an indication of that, I used the opportunity of the first statement today, on summer health and resilience—the Minister was there, not to answer the question, but to support the Secretary of State—to ask the Secretary of State what discussions she is having with her counterparts in the devolved Administrations, particularly in Northern Ireland, to assure a UK-wide co-ordinated approach to summer resilience.
I also asked what targeted support has been made available for community pharmacy networks, which so often act as the first line of defence when GP surgeries are stretched to capacity as we prepare for the cold and flu season. To be fair to the Secretary of State, she answered my question very well and assured me that discussions are ongoing with the Minister back home in Northern Ireland, and that reassured me. That example underlines the importance of community pharmacies to me, those in my Strangford constituency and every one of us here.
Just last year, the National Pharmacy Association said that it was left with no choice but to recommend that its 6,000 members take collective action for the first time in its history, citing significant new costs and inadequate funding. About 90% of the work carried out by the average community pharmacy is funded by the NHS. This time last year, the National Pharmacy Association issued the stark warning that up to 63% of pharmacies were likely to close in 2026. We are still in 2026, so that threat hangs over all our heads. In response to a survey, 94% of pharmacies stated that the latest funding settlement did not provide stability to their finances. Those figures demonstrate the effect of persistent financial uncertainty on the sector.
Lee Pitcher (Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme) (Lab)
The hon. Member mentions the closure of pharmacies, but this is also about the ending of some services. It is sometimes the things that are noticed the least that matter the most once they are gone. For example, people with neurological or mental health conditions rely on Nomads to have the right tablets on the right day, and that really important service is sometimes provided by our pharmacists. Does the hon. Member agree that we do not want the wonderful services that pharmacies provide free of charge to be lost because of financial pressures? They matter too much for the lives of our residents.
Ageing and End-of-life Care
Debate between Lee Pitcher and Jim Shannon(11 months, 1 week ago)
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Jim Shannon
I thank the right hon. Member for his intervention and for the wisdom that he brings to all the debates he participates in. The Minister is listening, and he is a good Minister, so I know he will come back with the response we hope to have.
How often have we listened to family members who are past themselves with exhaustion and guilt about how they are caring for their loved one and who feel unprepared and yet unwilling to let them go into nursing care? With more support, their lives would be easier and their loved one’s life happier. This knowledge is why I was not surprised to learn that almost £12 billion of public funds was spent on healthcare for people in their last year of life, 81% of which was spent in hospital, with only 11% spent on primary and community care.
Access to a 24/7 palliative care advice and support telephone line has been recommended as a minimum service requirement for nearly two decades, but research shows that very little has happened, which underlines the issue that the right hon. Member for New Forest East (Sir Julian Lewis) raised. Only seven of the 42 integrated care boards in England said they have a dedicated 24/7 single point of access to palliative and end-of-life care advice, guidance and onward referral to other services, when needed—those are all important factors.
Despite the introduction of a new legal duty for ICBs to commission palliative care services in the Health and Care Act 2022, the urgency and importance of ensuring that everyone has the best possible care and support at the end of life has yet to be recognised as a national priority. I hope the Minister will be able to provide assurance on this, because that is what Marie Curie wants, it is what Sue Ryder wants, and it is what every mum, dad and family member wants as well.
Lee Pitcher (Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme) (Lab)
The day I get to intervene on such an amazing Member is a remarkable day. I live in a very rural area where there are places with real socioeconomic deprivation. I know for a fact that there is huge inequality in those kinds of areas when it comes to palliative care. Does he agree that the Minister and the Government need to look at how to reduce that inequality over the next 10 years?
Doncaster Sheffield Airport
Debate between Lee Pitcher and Jim Shannon(1 year, 7 months ago)
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Lee Pitcher
No. Since being elected, I have asked many questions on the subject. I am sure that hon. Members across the House will be delighted to hear that this will not be the last time either. The fact is that it is important to so many constituents, and nothing demonstrates that better than the Save DSA campaign. I am proud to champion the campaign to save our airport in Parliament, and I hope my efforts in this place serve to highlight the wider efforts of local campaigners at home.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
I commend the hon. Gentleman for bringing the debate forward. I spoke to him beforehand, so he knows what I am going to say. Does he agree that Government funding for local industry means that a rising tide lifts all ships and that the support for the airport will have a great add-on benefit to the local economy? Does he further agree that support for all our airports through the reduction of air passenger duty for flights within the UK would greatly increase the economic benefits to airports and the constituencies around them, as well as bringing tourism benefits?
Lee Pitcher
I most certainly agree that the economic benefits of a regional airport opening are huge, not just for local jobs and the local economy but for the tourism trade, which is massively important right now.
When communities suffer the loss of major employers, as ours did, it is easy to slip into doom and gloom. Mark Chadwick—who I am pleased to say is here this evening—and the rest of the Save DSA campaign team refused to sink into negativity. They knew that there was no good business case to close that airport. They knew that there was no good reason to abandon our community, rip out a part of our heritage and end those jobs. The Save DSA campaign and others have fought tirelessly since the airport’s closure to keep it from becoming yet another example of regional decline. I thank them for their efforts and massively commend their work, as well as that of other groups, such as the Friends of DSA, a group of ex-employees and supporters whom I had the fortune of meeting recently. Their dedication shows that it was never just a job for them. I know they will be following progress closely.
Members who are unfamiliar with our airport may ask, “Why is this so important?” When Peel decided to close the airport in November 2022, it was not just a blow to passengers; it was the end of hundreds of good, well-paid jobs in Doncaster and the surrounding area.