Kettering MP calls for bereavement suites in maternity units
Rosie Wrighting has put forward a Bill calling for them to be included in all newly-built maternity units.
Kettering MP Rosie Wrighting has called for the government to put bereavement suites in all newly-built maternity units.
Presenting her 10 minute rule bill in Parliament yesterday (29 April) the MP called for the move after hearing from bereaved families who have had to use a room in the labour suite at Rosie’s local hospital, where they can be surrounded by joyous parents.
Rosie’s Maternity Units (Requirement for Bereavement Suite) Bill puts forward the proposal to prevent this from ever happening in any new maternity units which are built by making a bereavement suite a legal requirement.
Her Bill suggests that in future this could be prevented from happening at new units with bereaved families have a separate area.
Speaking in the Commons Rosie Wrighting said she wants to see appropriate facilities made available for parents who go through the heartbreaking experience of losing a baby.
Rosie said: “Having a baby should be one of the happiest moments of your life, but sadly for some it can be one of the most devastating.
“To lose a baby in pregnancy, or during or after birth, and be able to hear babies being born and celebrations only adds to the pain.
“This bill is asking for newly-built maternity units to be designed so this will not happen and that bereaved families have somewhere separate to rest, be able to spend time with their baby and speak to bereavement midwives away from the main ward.”
At Kettering General Hospital, where Labour MP Rosie was born prematurely at eight weeks early, the well-supported Twinkling Stars Appeal saw people fundraise for a new maternity bereavement suite because families used a room in the labour ward where they could be surrounded by those going through the joy of childbirth.
Kettering General Hospital
Rosie Wrighting recently visited Kettering General Hospital's maternity ward, where work was taking place to mitigate RAAC and where a recently-announced future extension will have a bereavement suite.
Kettering General Hospital cares for up to 100 families each year who suffer the heartbreak of baby loss. Currently in the UK, 13 families a day lose their baby before, during or shortly after birth. That is around 4,500 babies a year.
A state-of-the-art extension to the hospital’s maternity unit, announced in February this year as part of work to offset the impact of RAAC, will see a new bereavement suite built behind the current wing.
It comes after the £1m Twinkling Stars Appeal was launched in 2019 to raise money to develop a new bereavement suite at the hospital away from the labour ward, which saw donations flood in from kind-hearted local people.
Kettering is not the only hospital which has seen the community come together to fundraise for a maternity bereavement suite.
One opened at York Hospital in 2023 thanks to the support of local people and a donation from stillbirth and neonatal charity Sands.
The same year a maternity bereavement room opened at James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough after being funded in part by families.
Rosie said: “The generosity of people never fails to amaze me. In Kettering, the Twinkling Stars Appeal saw so many people donate, put on charity events and even skydive to raise money for this cause.
“While it is incredible that so many people did, we shouldn’t rely on public donations for something so important.
“We have an opportunity to build new maternity wards with bereavement suites so appropriate facilities are in place for families who have lost a child.”
Rosie’s proposal comes after she secured a Ten Minute Rule Bill motion, which allows a backbench MP to make the case for a new bill.