Two Conservative MPs who have experienced the trauma of losing a baby are calling for greater support for families affected by stillbirth and neonatal death. Antoinette Sandbach and Will Quince will host a Twitter session on Monday to mark Baby Loss Awareness Week, and have arranged a debate in the House of Commons on Thursday.
Mr Quince, MP for Colchester, and his wife Elinor lost their son Robert to stillbirth in October 2014. Robert had Edwards' Syndrome, a rare condition. “We found out something was wrong at our 20-week scan,” Mr Quince told the BBC. “It was not a hard choice for us, we decided to continue, even though the most likely outcome was a stillbirth.” Robert died in the final minutes of labour.
Ms Sandbach, MP for Eddisbury, lost her son Sam five days after his birth in 2009. She described waking to find him not breathing and a flat line in the ambulance. “Staff at the hospital were wonderful but I found myself in a plain room with questions being asked at me,” she said. Leaflets from the Chrysalis Trust helped her through.
The MPs hope that speaking out will help prevent other parents from “suffering in silence”. Mr Quince noted that around half of stillbirths are preventable, equating to 2,000 babies a year. “The government has pledged to cut the number of these preventable deaths by 2020 and halve it by 2030,” he said, but added that care is inconsistent across NHS trusts.
Baby Loss Awareness Week runs until Sunday, with a “Wave of Light” candlelit vigil on Saturday at 19:00 BST. Dr Clea Harmer, chief executive of the charity Sands, said: “It’s fundamental that we raise awareness of the issues surrounding baby loss and infant death and push for changes in practice across the UK.”
