News and media
PLRG participate in Hospice Friendly Hospitals Maternity & Perinatal Loss Network Meeting 2023
Members of the PLRG attended the Hospice Friendly Hospitals Maternity & Perinatal Loss Network Meeting 2023 on Wednesday 08 November in Dublin – the first meeting held since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
During the morning session Anna Maria Verling (Project Lead, HIQA and former PLRG member) presented findings from the National Maternity Bereavement Experience Survey 2022, followed by Angela Dunne (National Lead for Midwifery, NWIHP) outlined the HSE response to the findings.
Professor Keelin O’Donoghue provided an overview of the current state of stillbirths in Ireland. During her presentation, she highlighted the latest perinatal mortality statistics from the National Perinatal Epidemiology Centre, work being undertaken as part of the National Clinical Guideline Programme and the implementation of the National Standards for Bereavement Care following Pregnancy Loss and Perinatal Death, as well as ongoing research projects such as RELEVANT (REducing stiLlbirth through bEhaViour chAnge iNtervenTions) and ACHIEVE (Appraise and CHange PerInatal Mortality EVEnts: Structured evaluation and implementation of a national perinatal mortality review tool for Ireland).
Professor Keelin O’Donoghue
Marita Hennessy PhD
Marita Hennessy updated participants on national research initiatives and knowledge translation directly and/or indirectly informing and supporting the implementation of the aforementioned national standards. These included:
- A completed review of medicine and midwifery curricula regarding pregnancy loss and bereavement care
- A review of staff education/training and supports in the 19 maternity units/hospitals which commences early November – please look out for, and support!
- A two-year project titled “Supporting maternity care staff in the aftermath of an adverse event: Development and pilot testing of a scalable psychosocial intervention” commencing in December
- Updates to the national website: pregnancyandinfantloss.ie, including two new pages:
- Updates to pregnancy loss content on the HSE My Child website – stillbirth completed; first trimester miscarriage currently being reviewed and updated
- The RE:CURRENT Knowledge Translation Award outputs, including (*available from the end of November):
- Information checklist for healthcare staff with information for people who might be miscarrying & who need to attend hospitals (currently being piloted, if interested in taking part, contact maritahennessy@ucc.ie)
- Pre-appointment letter template (currently being piloted; if interested in taking part, contact maritahennessy@ucc.ie)
- Enhanced corkmiscarriage.com*
- Plain language booklets on miscarriage and recurrent miscarriage (electronic copies will be available on pregnancyandinfantloss.ie and other websites, a limited number of hardcopies will be available)*
- Multi-lingual videos on recurrent miscarriage*
- The PLATFORM project – enhancing knowledge translation in pregnancy loss for impact
- The graphic narrative: Why my baby died
- The advocacy infographic: Why don’t we talk about pregnancy loss?
During the afternoon session, Alice Anderson (Hospice Friendly Hospitals Programme Manager, Irish Hospice Foundation) provided an update on the Design & Dignity Programme, with Louise Dempsey (CNS Bereavement Women and Children's Services, Cavan General Hospital) and Margaret Ryan (End of Life Care Coordinator, St Luke’s Hospital Kilkenny) providing insights into their experiences of implementing the Design & Dignity principles in their own hospitals, and securing funding.
Brenda Casey (CMS in Bereavement) then presented an overview of the TLC Clinic at the National Maternity Hospital which provides support for women in pregnancy following recurrent miscarriage.
Forty four people from 22 hospitals/organisations participated in this network meeting. Additional members of the PLRG in attendance were: Rióna Cotter, Dr Daniel Nuzum, Hannah O’Leary and Niamh Spillane.
Hospice Friendly Hospitals (HFH) is one of the Irish Hospice Foundation’s pioneering programmes. In It was established in 2007 to introduce a strategic and focused approach to the improvement of end-of-life care in acute hospitals partnership with the HSE, over 47 hospitals nationwide are now linked with HFH. The programme has several strands, including the coordination of networks for hospital staff to promote improvements in end-of-life care; of which the Maternity & Perinatal Network is one of four. It also includes the coordination of Design & Dignity which is transforming the way hospital spaces are designed.
Many thanks to Alice Anderson and Lucy Andrews (HFH Programme, Irish Hospice Foundation) for organising this meeting and the opportunity to share our work.