Stillbirth and Bereavement Care
Stillbirth was established as one of the original Clinical Network work programmes back in 2012, identified by stakeholders as a priority. The aim of this programme of work is to support the development of systems and processes to reduce stillbirth rates and improve user experience.
There is a national ‘Halve-it’ ambition that by 2025 the rate of stillbirths is to decrease by 50%. This means that the stillbirth rate for England needs to decrease to 2.6 stillbirths per 1,000 total births if the government ambition is to be met.
The Stillbirth Steering Group started in March 2015. The group oversees the implementation of the Y&H Recommendations and Saving Babies’ Lives Care Bundle (SBLCB), shares good practice and learning, and monitors both data and themes to inform improvement activities. Following the publication of SBLCB v2, elements from version 2 of the care bundle are part of NHS Resolution’s Maternity Incentive Scheme, and so this group also has a role in supporting trusts to meet these requirements.
The aim of the group is to provide an environment where problems of common interest can be discussed and to help oversee the implementation of national and regional guidelines and standards. The group currently meets every quarter.
Progress to date
- Developed Y&H Stillbirth and Bereavement Care Recommendations, with regular audits of implementation compliance.
- Trusts supported to achieve compliance with version 2 of the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle. Good practice and learning continue to be shared.
- Held workshops to support shared learning across the 3 Local Maternity Systems.
- Supported Bereavement Midwives to link up via attendance at workshops, email and a WhatsApp group.
- Agreement of stillbirth indicators to include in the Y&H Maternity Dashboard. This data is collected quarterly and reported to the Stillbirth Steering Group at each meeting.
Next Steps
- To collate themes from Trust Perinatal Mortality reviews from each Local Maternity System to inform improvement work focus areas.
- To support Trusts with making the best use of the Perinatal Mortality Review Tool to effectively capture and utilise data.
- To continue to support implementation of the SBLCB and the Y&H Stillbirth and Bereavement Care Recommendations.
- Collect data via the Y&H Maternity Dashboard to follow progress with the Halve-it Campaign.
Meetings
This group holds quarterly meetings, for details please contact:
- Talitha Grandison: talitha.grandison@nhs.net