Cork City Council approves motion on enhancing miscarriage care and services during Baby Loss Awareness Week

24 Nov 2023

At an ordinary meeting of Cork City Council, held on 09 October – the start of Baby Loss Awareness Week 2023, members considered and approved a motion calling on Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly to improve and standardise miscarriage care and services nationally.

The motion, proposed by Councillor Shane O’Callaghan, highlights several actions which can be taken to enhance care and services. These actions, which are supported by findings from the Health Research Board-funded RE:CURRENT project, include:

• Resourcing pregnancy loss services within the 19 maternity units/hospitals to ensure a minimum service and standard in all, with dedicated specialist recurrent miscarriage clinics regionally.
• Ensuring the full complement of clinical midwife specialist in bereavement and loss posts are filled and sustained across the country, and that there are sufficient numbers of posts to match the demand in services.
• Resourcing a designated staff member (midwife) for early miscarriage care to enable development of individualised care plans after a woman's first miscarriage in each of the 19 maternity hospitals/units.
• Access to dedicated counselling and psychological supports after a person’s first and subsequent miscarriages.
• A focus on second trimester pregnancy loss, to include improved and standardised investigation, management, care and supports, with enhanced care in a subsequent pregnancy, across all 19 maternity hospitals/units.
• Providing necessary resources and supports for healthcare staff, teams and hospitals to access and learn from continuing professional development and training opportunities around bereavement care.
• Enhanced funding to ensure that there are dedicated spaces within maternity units/hospitals for the delivery of high quality bereavement care that facilitates privacy and dignity.
• Standardised reporting of first and second trimester miscarriage rates nationally to inform service delivery and improvements.

We look forward to the response from the Minister and thank all involved at Cork City Council for their advocacy efforts.