Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 22 December 2023 to Question 5140 on Miscarriage: Bereavement Counselling, how many of the National Health Service trusts that have committed to adopting the National Bereavement Care Pathway standards have fully implemented them; and what criteria will be used to monitor the compliance of those trusts with those standards.

The development, implementation and assessment of uptake of the National Bereavement Care Pathway is led by the Stillbirths and Neonatal Death charity (SANDS) which has developed and rolled out these pathway standards. As of January 2023, 108, or 84% of, National Health Service trusts had committed to adopting and implementing the standards of the National Bereavement Care Pathway. SANDS continues to encourage and support the adoption of the pathway within NHS trusts and monitor its uptake. The adoption of the pathway is not mandated by NHS England, and NHS England does not assess or monitor compliance.