BABY LOSS DEBATE 2022

Since I secured the first debate ever in the Commons on the issue of stillbirth in 2016, baby loss has been debated every single year during Baby Loss Awareness Week.

During this year’s debate I highlighted the high incidence of pre-eclampsia as a factor in stillbirth. Pre-eclampsia is also linked to long-term maternal health risks such as ischaemic heart disease, hypothyroidism and diabetes. It cannot be acceptable that women who experience pre-eclampsia are not even told that they are subject to these health risks. They are simply unaware of the long-term health challenges they may face once they are discharged from hospital, with no longer-term monitoring in place.

I also called on governments across the UK to do more to confront systematic failures in maternity care that can lead to stillbirths, with the most recent damning review into East Kent NHS Hospitals Trust concluding that up to 45 babies might have survived if they had received better care. We have had “reviews”, “investigations” and “reports into incidences of stillbirth but still, with regularity, incompetence, mismanagement, negligence and systematic failures are found right across the UK. This is simply not good enough.

There is still much to do and I will continue to campaign on reducing baby loss.

Watch my contribution to the debate below 👇.