Baby death parents 'failed by NHS'

Only around half of health trusts surveyed had a quiet room where parents could sit away from the sights and sounds of women in labour or healthy newborns.

More than half (52 per cent) of units had no dedicated midwife trained in bereavement – despite the fact 6,500 families every year suffer the loss of a child, said the charity Sands.

It found 56 per cent of NHS trusts surveyed still used shared graves for babies but only 35 per cent used lockable grave covers.

Hospitals across the country can arrange burials, which usually involve placing more than one baby in a grave. The ground is not usually put back down fully until the grave is full up.

Earlier this year, a London couple were told by police that the body of their five-day-old boy had been taken by a fox after being placed in a communal grave.

Godwin and Emem Iferi said their son David's coffin was covered only by planks of wood – allowing the animal to remove the body.

Today's report said the lack of lockable grave covers "poses the very real risk that a grave may be disturbed and the baby's body harmed".

It adds "Lockable grave covers should always be used on a shared grave until it is full and the ground can be reconstituted."

The report, the first of its kind, was based on data from 77 trusts in the UK. Just 25 per cent of those who were sent the Sands questionnaire responded.

The charity said good care includes spending extra time with patients; clear, sensitive and honest communication and using interpreters where necessary.

Trained staff should be on hand to deal with emotional needs while parents whose babies die in the second or third trimester of pregnancy should be offered opportunities to create memories, it said.

While NHS care has improved compared to a few decades ago, today's report found care is still poorly resourced and organised in 20 per cent of trusts, and is patchy in others.

Around (51 per cent) of units have specific bereavement training for midwives but only 32 per cent run training sessions for doctors.

Nearly half (45 per cent) of units have no dedicated room on the labour ward for mothers whose baby has died.

This is despite the fact "the sight and sounds of women and families with healthy babies add to the anguish and distress of already distraught parents", the report said.

It also said in a small number of units, women having a miscarriage are cared for in unsuitable areas, such as medical or general wards or in accident and emergency units.

Some 38 per cent of units usually rely on fathers to interpret where there are language barriers, five per cent use children to interpret for parents, with 27 per cent of units saying they used children in an emergency.

For parents with hearing impairments, 38 per cent of units only have access to signers in normal working hours and 38 per cent have no access to signers.

Seventeen babies are stillborn or die shortly after birth every day in the UK.

Judith Schott, improving care manager at Sands, said: "It is heartening to see that the care provided to bereaved parents has improved over the last 20 years.

"However, what is of great concern is the small but significant number of units where care is not up to standard."

Gail Johnson, education and practice development advisor at the Royal College of Midwives said they were aware of inconsistencies with the delivery of care and "midwives who are trying to support parents also feel isolated".