Newspaper column 27th February 2024 - The Baby Loss Certificate

Regular readers will know that as well as my work as local Member of Parliament for Truro and Falmouth, I also have, throughout my time as MP advocated for national awareness and support for families, like mine, who have experienced baby loss. I have now chaired the cross party All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Baby Loss for over three years, and it is an honour to advocate for families who have suffered a loss as well as the midwives and other healthcare professionals who care for them.

The Baby Loss APPG works in a number of ways to raise awareness of and encourage the Government and NHS to work with families to ensure the very best care and support is given at the most difficult of times.

One such example is through the National Bereavement Care Pathway, which was launched in 2017 and has since been adopted in most NHS Trusts in England. This has been transformational in ensuring that families like mine, whose pregnancy is cruelly cut short, receive special bereavement care during the event. Memory boxes and photos are encouraged, as is time spent with your baby to say goodbye.

Last week we saw the Government announce the Pregnancy Loss Certificate, which is something parents have been asking for, to help bring comfort at their lowest point.

The certificate has been announced as part of the response to the Pregnancy Loss Review, an independent report commissioned by the Government last year to look towards improving the care and support available to families when baby loss occurs before 24 weeks' gestation.

The Pregnancy Loss Certificate is the recognition of a life lost. It is an optional, official, but not legal, document which can be issued to families who lose their baby at any time before 24 weeks gestation. Before 24 weeks, all losses are classed as miscarriage, rather than stillbirth. This means that for babies like mine, there has been no record that she ever existed. Yet she did. The Pregnancy Loss Certificate changes this.

Putting a baby’s name on the certificate means that it could be kept with their siblings’ birth certificates or put somewhere special with the rest of their baby mementos. Nothing can take away the pain of losing a much wanted and much-loved baby. The grief, like any other, must be navigated at one’s own pace and in one’s own way. But I would like to thank Ministers for listening to the voices of bereaved parents and introducing the certificate as quickly as possible after the review.

As always, I am fully focused on the job at hand and if there is ever anything at all I can do to help, then please do not hesitate to contact me. Please get in touch with me by email at Cherilyn.mackrory.mp@parliament.uk, or by telephone on 01872 229698. My regular constituency advice surgeries are held in a covid-safe environment at my office, so please do get in touch should you wish to meet me about any matters that I can be of assistance with.