OUR MIDWIFE TRAINING

One of the things we are so very proud of at Our Angels is the training we have provided for local midwives and health visitors. We have now run four intensive bereavement training seminars.

So far, around seventy midwives and ten other health professionals have completed this training. This means that they now have the tools to better deal with the physical and emotional trauma of child loss when they face it in their working lives. This allows them to handle the family concerned sensitively and with compassion, whilst coping with the strain on themselves too.

With expanding the training out from midwives to include consultants, junior doctors, and other staff that come into contact with bereaved parents, which was an important progression for this vital work.

Our Angels are currently exploring ways to introduce the training to student midwives and junior doctors in Yorkshire during their training. This will increase the proportion of health professionals who are well-equipped to deal with these tragic situations.

We feel that getting it right at the first stage is very important. Health professionals only get one chance with each family’s experience to get it right. Given the right support, families can have an experience that is as gentle as possible.

The NHS has now published research showing that the provision of the right kind of care has a significant impact on the psychological recovery of the parents, so we believe this work is truly vital. The feedback we have had from the midwives has been wonderful. They “feel better prepared to deal with any situation they find themselves in” and also “capable of giving all the support needed at this heartbreaking time.

We have expanded this training out to include the sending of midwives and student midwives who are keen to specialise in bereavement midwifery to specialist conferences in 2015 and 2016. Expanding the amount of work we do in this area, is an essential focus for us going forward.