'NHS first' pregnancy loss and pre-term birth support up for HSJ Award | News

'NHS first' pregnancy loss and pre-term birth support up for HSJ Award

Our Trust's ‘NHS first’ package of support for colleagues who suffer pregnancy loss or the complexities of having a baby born prematurely has been shortlisted in this year’s Health Services Journal (HSJ) Awards.

This exciting news of the inclusion in the Staff Wellbeing Award list follows quickly from another successful piece of recognition with our Trust also being shortlisted in the HPMA Excellence in People Awards’ ‘Best Partnerships’ category thanks to BWC’s work with our trade union colleagues to successfully introduce this innovative policy last summer.

As a Trust that supports families each and every single day, we are determined to break the taboos that exist. In the UK one in four pregnancies end in miscarriage but there remains a silence in many parts of our society about this heartbreaking and sadly common issue.

There are also 37,000 babies born early each year and the difficulties their families go through can often be hidden and misunderstood.

In July 2021 we officially launched its new policy, with the support of Trade Union partners, as well as our clinical Maternity and miscarriage research teams. BWC also signed up to The Smallest Things Charter at the same time.

Our policy offers all 6,500 members of our BWC family a unique package of support for those who experience baby loss, including:

  • Up to 10 days paid leave for the person who was pregnant and up to five days paid leave for their partner. This includes, but is not limited to, miscarriage, stillbirth, abortion, ectopic pregnancy, molar pregnancy and neonatal loss. This is not dependent upon gestation of pregnancy or length of service. 
  • In addition, colleagues are offered paid time off for appointments linked to pregnancy loss, for example, medical examinations, scans and tests and mental health appointments. 
  • A promise that all requests to work flexibly following a bereavement will also be treated with understanding and sensitivity. 

For colleagues who have a baby born early the policy includes:

  • Extended leave at full pay until the estimated date of when Maternity Leave was due to commence and two weeks paid leave for partners of premature babies, allowing paternity leave to be taken when the baby goes home to help build their family. 
  • Support when returning to work following the birth of a premature baby with consideration given to flexible working arrangements. 

Over the last 12 months many people have accessed this additional support at a time when they needed it most – making a real difference.

As a champion for these issues we have also been thrilled to support many other organisations across the NHS, public and private sectors, which, after taking inspiration from us since summer, many making new partnerships and developing the policy even further.

Directly this has meant potentially more than 150,000 people now have access to such support and many more have shown an interest or have started their journeys to adopting something similar.

Raffaela Goodby, Chief People Officer, said: “The recognition that comes from the shortlisting for both of these awards is fantastic for helping tackle the taboo of baby loss and in ensuring our policy was put in place and available for colleagues who experience the pain of losing their baby or have a child that is born prematurely.

“We remain as determined as ever to break the taboos that still exist in our society about these hugely important issues and are proud to be leading the way with many other wonderful organisations, both in and outside of our NHS, asking for our support so too can become an employer with heart and offer this vital love and support in their organisations.”

We’ll find out if we have won the HPMA Award on 8 September ahead of the HSJ ceremony in November.

We have placed cookies on your computer to help make this website better. You can at any time read our cookie policy. Otherwise, we will assume that you're OK to continue.

Please choose a setting: