Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the recent report entitled Audit of Bereavement Care Provision in UK Neonatal Units 2018, published by Sands and Bliss, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of bereavement care provision in neonatal units.

NHS England is currently undertaking a review of its specialised neonatal services in order to improve quality of care and ensure there is sufficient capacity for the future. It will consider the National Bereavement Care Pathway (NBCP), referenced in the ‘Audit of Bereavement Care Provision in UK Neonatal Units 2018’, which sets out a comprehensive framework for bereavement support across five stages of pregnancy and baby loss, including neonatal death.

All bereaved parents, following baby loss, should be offered the same high standard of care and support in an appropriate environment. That is why the Government recently announced over £100,000 of funding for Sands, the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death charity, to continue the roll-out of the NBCP for 2018/19. This builds upon £50,000 of start-up funding and is in response to the great strides the project is making.

Furthermore, the Toolkit for High Quality Neonatal Services sets out requirements that all staff have bereavement training; that each unit has a bereavement lead; and that parents are given written information about bereavement services where relevant. Additionally, the British Association of Perinatal Medicine Service Standards require that parents whose baby or babies are receiving care in a neonatal intensive care unit should have access to a trained counsellor from the time their baby is admitted.