When a family suffers a stillbirth, their lives are changed forever. The devastation and sorrow that they experience can be overwhelming and the support of their family and loved ones in a caring, compassionate environment at this time is vital.

In England, 1 in every 200 births after 24weeks of pregnancy is stillborn.

Over 5,000 babies are born at UHCW each year and the Maternity Department is a regional specialist centre for difficult or complex pregnancies, with an average of at least 1 stillbirth per month.

Currently the Maternity Department at UHCW has nowhere that mothers can deliver their stillborn babies in a private, quiet space – they can only have their babies in rooms on the labour ward next to those having live babies, so they hear the newborns’ cries, the joy of the other parents and see families and friends excitedly visiting other new parents. The impact that this has on grieving parents’ wellbeing and mental health is distressing and long-lasting.

The Maternity team, including trained Bereavement Midwives, consultants and patients who have experienced the loss of their baby on the unit, have designed a Maternity Bereavement Suite, where families can have privacy and comfort in soundproofed rooms, away from other new families.

The Bereavement Suite will consist of;

• a soundproofed delivery room on the labour ward, for high-risk births that need more clinical intervention, with facilities for birthing partners;

• two soundproofed rooms a short distance form the labour ward, with a separate entrance onto the main corridor, where mothers can give birth in a quiet, less clinical environment. These rooms will also have double beds so that birth partners can stay overnight. There will be comfortable chairs, soft furnishings, subdued lighting, a fridge, refreshment facilities, a chest of drawers with baby clothing and a cold cot for their baby;

• a soundproofed family room so that siblings can visit and families can be together in privacy and dignity. Comfortable seating, refreshment facilities and toys for siblings will be available in this area.

The Bereavement Suite will enable our specialist staff to care for families during delivery and offer compassionate aftercare following a stillbirth. Overnight facilities for birthing partners will be available in these rooms, so that families can grieve together and support each other during these critical first few hours and days following a stillbirth. Specially designed “Cold cots” will be available, so that families can spend as long with their baby as they wish, creating hand and foot prints and taking photos that they can cherish forever. A pram will also be available, should families wish to visit the bereavement garden.

The NHS provides the clinical facilities for patients, but we need your support to develop this Bereavement Suite for our families, so that they can have the most supportive environment possible at this saddest of times.

The cost of providing the Bereavement Suite is over £750,000 and UHCW Charity are launching an appeal to raise funds, approaching charitable trusts and major donors, to help to make things better for our patients and their families when they need us most.