About the APPG on Baby Loss

Sands is the secretariat for the APPG on Baby Loss.

Founded in February 2016, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Baby Loss brings together MPs and Peers from across parties to work on this vital issue.

The APPG’s overall aims are to develop policy that supports families dealing with the grief of baby loss, and to prevent it happening in the first place. It aims to raise awareness of what more can be done by the government, Parliament or other agencies to help those affected, and reduce the risk of baby loss.

The APPG officers are:

• Co-Chair: Cherilyn Mackrory MP
• Co-Chair: Helen Morgan MP
• Vice-Chair: Sarah Owen MP
• Vice-Chair: Sir John Hayes MP

Activities

The group holds regular meetings, and hears from expert speakers, identifies problems or opportunities in national policy around baby loss, and advocates in Parliament for the best quality of support for families affected by the loss of a baby.

The group’s details under the Register of All-Party Groups is held on the Parliament.uk website.

APPGs on Baby Loss and Maternity Safe Staffing Report

Both the Health and Social Care Select Committee and the Ockenden Review recommended that the Government takes urgent action to increase the maternity workforce in order to deliver safer maternity care.

For the 2022 Safe Staffing campaign, the APPG on Baby Loss and the APPG on Maternity joined forces to push for urgent action on the maternity staffing crisis. In October 2022, the APPGs published their joint report ‘Safe staffing: The impact of staffing shortages in maternity and neonatal care’.

The report is a culmination of over 100 submissions to an open call for evidence to help better understand the experience of those directly impacted by maternity staff levels. The findings paint a bleak picture of a service that is at breaking point and staff that are overworked, burnt out and stressed.

In November 2022, the Chancellor's autumn statement included specific maternity commitments - these include the Government publishing a comprehensive NHS workforce plan, including "independently verified workforce forecasts", and recruiting 2,000 more midwives in line with the Ockenden's Review of maternity services. 

The APPGs were pleased to see acknowledgement of the report's recommendations as well as commitments to ensure that staffing levels in maternity services are safer.  The groups and their members look forward to working with the Government to ensure that these are implemented rapidly so that mothers, babies and bereaved families get the safe care that they deserve.

COVID-19 and baby loss

In August 2020 the APPG held a virtual meeting focused on the impact of COVID-19 on pregnancy and baby loss.  The meeting heard evidence from organisations who support women and partners who experience loss, and the evidence was stark; COVID-19 has exacerbated existing challenges, and has had a negative impact on the experience of women, partners and their families at the worst possible time of their lives.  While recognising the increased pressure that health services have faced during the pandemic, the APPG have produced this short report which seeks to highlight key challenges and make suggestions for how healthcare professionals can continue to deliver the best possible care. You can read the report on baby loss and COVID-19 here.

How to get involved

If you would like to know more about the work of the APPG, please join the mailing list by completing this short form. You can also contact the Secretariat on appg.babyloss@sands.org.uk. Sands provides a Secretariat service for the group.

You can also help the APPG to raise issues related to baby loss, by contacting your local MP and informing them of the APPG’s work.

Disclaimer

This is not an office webpage of the House of Commons or the House of Lords. It has not been approved by either House or its committees. All Party Parliamentary Groups are informal groups of Members of both Houses with a common interest in particular issues. Any views expressed in APPG publications or on this page are those of the group.