When a baby dies before, during or shortly after birth, amid the devastation and grief, many parents are left with one question. Why did my baby die? 

A review or investigation into the care a mother and baby received is part of standard NHS care. Its aims are to answer parents’ questions about why their baby died and, if there is learning around poor care, to highlight issues for improvements in care for future parents.   

Often parents don’t know these are taking place or that they can ask their own questions about their care and why certain decisions were made. Many parents who do know a review is taking place talk of the frustration of poor and insensitive communication from hospitals and investigators, and unexplained delays.  

Sands’ new training film is aimed at health care professionals who come into contact with newly bereaved parents. It contains the voices of bereaved parents talking about their own experiences of review and the voices of healthcare professionals from maternity, neonatal and paediatric care, describing the key principles of parent engagement in review.     

We hope this training film will support professionals’ confidence in communicating with bereaved parents and give them the skills and awareness of what good parent engagement in review looks like.