Women who suffer pregnancy loss to receive extra support thanks to training scheme

Swansea Bay staff are receiving specialist training to help families who have experienced a pregnancy loss after patient feedback highlighted a need for additional emotional and practical support.

Eight members of the team on Singleton Hospital’s Ward 4, which specialises in Gynaecology, have received training from Swansea Bay’s Bereavement Specialist Midwife, Christie-Ann Lang, in how to counsel and support women and their families who have had a pregnancy loss.

A further ten staff will also receive the training which includes the appropriate use of terminology, what practical support is available and the opportunities to make memories after a loss.

The aim is for staff to have the confidence to offer the best possible support, while families will know there will always be someone present on Ward 4 who can help them.

The Baby Loss Support Champions cover a variety of staff groups including nurses, healthcare support workers and domestics. They will wear a badge - provided by a charity called 4Louis - to make them visible to patients and families.

Pictured: One of the badges, provided by charity 4Louis

The training is thought to be the first of its kind in Wales and the intention is to ensure support is available regardless of the clinical environment - whether that be Singleton’s Labour Ward or Ward 4, where many women receive care when experiencing pregnancy loss.

Champions have been in place on the ward for a month and their introduction could not have been better timed, with Wednesday 9^th October marking the start of International Baby Loss Awareness Week.

 “The idea stemmed from concerns raised by women who had come through the experience of miscarriage and around some of the terminology used and some of the lack of communication, as well,” said Surgical Division Deputy Head of Nursing, Cheryl Gooding.

“It all came about after a conversation between myself, Christie-Ann and the ward manager. We just collectively thought we could do more to support families.

“Ultimately, I thought the best approach would be to ask our bereavement specialist midwife Christie-Ann  if she could provide study days for a cohort of staff around better understanding the terminology, a bit of education around not just how mum is feeling but also dad and siblings at the loss of a baby.

“So we’ve now got a group of staff who are trained to support our families coming through the unit and they’re all very visible, wearing the badge provided by 4Louis.

“We really needed to make these improvements. Families are coming through us at probably the worst time in their lives.

“We look after women at any phase in their pregnancy up to 20 weeks on Ward 4. We’re not midwives like Christie-Ann.

“We’re nurses, health care support worker, etc. But this is about providing confidence and support for staff and of course, for women and families.”

After putting the training opportunity in place, Cheryl was delighted by the uptake of staff who wanted to broaden the support they could offer in this area.

“We had no shortage of volunteers for this training,” she added.

“We went back to our staff on Ward 4 and initially we had some healthcare support workers who wanted to get involved, then it became registered nurses and it snowballed. Everyone wants to get on board.

“The fact that so many of our staff want to be better placed to help in this way is testimony to how dedicated and compassionate they are.

“We’ve also introduced compassion rounds for the team so they can hopefully avoid compassion fatigue and can offload when necessary, because supporting women and their families in these circumstances is an emotional rollercoaster.

“The training also helps our staff to facilitate time for families to make memories.

“Families receive a memory box and within that they can have a handprint or a footprint. They get to have time with their son or their daughter.

“So our trained nurses now understand how this works and have some confidence in how to approach this for families.

“This is a really positive development on the back of one or two really awful experiences for women coming through our ward, so it’s good to know that from bad we’ve hopefully created good that will make a real difference for our communities.”

Christie-Ann has been only too happy to provide the training and to introduce staff to the range of external support available.

She said: “My intention is to support our staff to give them the confidence and know-how to be able to really make a difference. That goes not only for people coming through the hospital but also in terms of staff being able to support one another.

“For many families, the loss of a baby is a life-changing experience and no two families are the same. Everybody goes through this experience in a different way. Our staff see a lot of people but it’s really important we never become complacent and we’re as comfortable as possible offering families who are coping in different ways the best help and support possible.

Pictured: A memory box, which helps women and their families remember their baby.

“The champions are not just nursing staff, which I think is important. We have a number of healthcare support workers and there may be occasions when they have a little more time to spare to maybe offer someone a cup of tea and to just listen.

“I think when people go through pregnancy and everything goes smoothly, they may have a limited recollection of some of the staff who looked after them years later. But when you are experiencing a pregnancy loss the families remember the staff who were there for them and provided their care.

"So it’s so important we do all we can. My feeling is that we can’t change the situation families find themselves in but we should can certainly not make the situation any worse.”

Staff nurse Carina Jones, who has undergone the training, added: “The baby loss training has been valuable to me in providing the essential knowledge needed to support the parents and family through their grieving process. 

“For me, supporting a family through their difficult time is really important. That includes letting them know we are there for them, to ensure they have the support to make treasured memories, if they wish to, through memory boxes, hand and footprints and completing the certificate of life. “Also, I’m now able to provide the parents with all the relevant information needed to aid their grieving process.”  

In addition to the new training, Christie-Ann is also helping mark Baby Loss Awareness Week by organising events and also signposting support offered by organisations and charities on social media.

These include a Ribbon Walk along Aberavon Beach front on Sunday (October 13^th) which is aimed at raising awareness around pregnancy loss but also will offer families the chance to meet, share and remember their beloved babies. The event is supported by Swansea Bay Baby Loss Support Group and for more information about this event and others taking place during the week, email christie-Ann.Lang@wales.nhs.uk