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The ICCM Journal | Winter 2021 | V89 No. 4
Sands winter update Thank you to every member of the ICCM who has supported and fundraised for Sands. Since March of this year, you have supported the charity to: • • • • • •
Answer 6,000 Helpline calls and emails Respond to 831 chats in Grief Chat Deliver 2,693 free Memory Boxes to maternity units and community services UK-wide Send 7,916 Bereavement Support Books Provide 10,179 Bereavement Support Packs Translate Bereavement Support Book into Urdu, Punjabi, Portuguese, Arabic, Mandarin and Bengali, which are all available electronically too
Sands exists to support anyone affected by the death of a baby, to improve the bereavement care received by parents and families, and to promote research to reduce the number of babies dying. Everything we do – the services we run, the public health messages we promote, the way we raise money – is focused around these three aims. If you would like to find out more about your donation and the difference it has made to families in your community, please get in touch. If you would like support, please visit https://www.sands.org.uk/support-you. Bereavement in the Workplace Training and Support Our bereavement training in the workplace and resources help organisations of all sizes to empower, encourage and support their colleagues, and ultimately, to thrive in their workplace. We understand that many of you will be working in emotionally heightened environments, and with members of the public and families who are bereaved – including from pregnancy loss and baby death. Our training is delivered by counselling and bereavement specialists – to offer you support, communication tips and techniques, ways to support each other and members of the public, and how to protect yourself in emotional and challenging circumstances. If you would like more information or to sign up, please visit Bereavement in the Workplace | Sands - Stillbirth and neonatal death charity Baby Loss Awareness Week: reducing baby deaths Sands estimates that had stillbirth and neonatal death rates for Black and Asian babies been the same as for White babies, 432 fewer babies would have died in 2019 in England and Wales. This inequity is backed up by new analysis, released today by MBRRACE-UK, of the multidimensional effects of ethnicity, deprivation, and mother’s age on baby deaths in 2019 in the UK, which shows that multiple risk factors can combine to magnify the risk, deepening inequalities for some families. Compared with white babies, stillbirth rates for Black/Black British babies are twice as high and for Asian/Asian British babies, they are 1.6 times as high. In the most deprived areas, stillbirth rates are 1.7 times higher. During Baby Loss Awareness Week this year, Sands called on the Government to urgently fund an enquiry into Asian and British Asian baby deaths in the UK, as they have already for Black and Black British baby deaths. We invite you to join us in this e-action. Ask your MP to take action to reduce baby deaths | Sands | Actions “Health inequalities in relation to maternity outcomes have been known for over 70 years, yet we still lack evidence-based interventions to reduce these risks. Today’s statistics confirm the urgent need for action, and the government must set a target to reduce these clear inequalities in perinatal mortality. This is a critical moment for maternity safety. Recent reports from the Health and Social Care Committee, the Ockenden Review of maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, and ongoing investigations at East Kent and Nottingham show just how much more must be done. Funding a confidential enquiry into UK Asian baby deaths is a drop in the ocean financially when compared to the staggering £7.1 billion per year cost to the NHS of maternity compensation claims. Despite recent improvements, the current trajectory in reducing the rate of stillbirths means the Government will be a long way off achieving their National Maternity Safety Ambition to reduce stillbirths and neonatal deaths by 50% by 2025.” Clea Harmer, Chief Executive of Sands
