Miscarriage care must be high on the agenda for a new government

All 3 of the main political parties’ General Election manifestos promise action on maternity services. We’re calling for more from the new government, including a commitment to improve miscarriage care.

Following the launch of the main parties’ election manifestos, we’re pleased to see maternity services and maternal safety acknowledged across the board as areas where improvements are needed.

But the commitments made are not enough to achieve our vision at Tommy’s of a UK where pregnancy and birth are safe for everyone, and to end the devastation caused by baby loss.

On average, 13 babies a day are stillborn or die during the first 28 days of life across the UK. That has to change.

We’ve set out our priorities for the next government in a document from the Sands and Tommy’s Joint Policy Unit.

It calls for 5 key actions to accelerate progress, including the introduction of more ambitious national targets to reduce stillbirth and preterm birth, and a clear commitment to eliminate inequalities in pregnancy and baby loss.

Our call for better miscarriage care

As part of that drive to improve pregnancy care and services, we at Tommy’s are continuing our campaign for a radical overhaul of miscarriage policy.

We want to ensure women and birthing people don’t have to wait until they’ve had three consecutive miscarriages before they are referred for investigative tests, as most do under the current system.

We’re calling for the nationwide introduction of a ‘graded model’ of miscarriage care, giving women and birthing people guaranteed access to psychological support after their first experience of miscarriage, with investigative tests offered after a second loss and consultant-led care after a third.

This evidence-based approach, proposed by our team at Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage Research, was recommended in the independent Pregnancy Loss Review in summer 2023 and is currently being piloted by the Tommy’s centre in Birmingham.

We want services to be set up so that everyone experiencing a miscarriage is offered best-practice care, whenever and wherever it happens. And we want women and birthing people who are known to be at higher risk of miscarriage to have better care from the earliest possible stage.

Every miscarriage should be counted

Crucially, our Miscarriage Matters campaign is also calling for a centralised system to record and count miscarriages.

An estimated 1 in 5 pregnancies end in miscarriage – but there is no official data. Without that information, it’s very difficult to understand the scale of the problem, who it’s most likely to affect and why.  

For example, research published in The Lancet as part of our campaign found that Black women are 40% more likely than White women to experience miscarriage.

A centralised system to record and count all miscarriages would provide more of the insights we need to drive research into these inequities and offer effective support to people affected and at risk.  

In 2021, we launched a petition calling on the Government to implement these changes. To date, it’s been signed by more than 250,000 people.

As the election approaches, we’re urging more to support our call for all miscarriages to be recorded.  

Kate Davies, Director of Research, Policy & Information at Tommy’s, said: 

“We want to make sure the next government recognises the importance of our Miscarriage Matters campaign, and the strength of support for the changes it recommends.

“Tackling baby loss and making pregnancy and birth safe for everyone requires more than positive words.

“With the backing of our incredible community, we look forward to working with the new government to bring about real and lasting improvements to miscarriage care and services.”

The Conservatives’ pledges include:

  • a ‘comprehensive national strategy’ for maternity care
  • support for research into disparities in maternity care
  • better access to mental health services after pregnancy  

Labour’s pledges include:

  • ‘robust’ support to improve NHS trusts that are failing on maternity care
  • training of thousands more midwives as part of the NHS Plan
  • setting a target to close the Black and Asian maternal mortality gap

The Liberal Democrats’ pledges include:

  • reducing the disproportionately high maternal mortality rates for Black women and eliminating racial disparities in maternal health
  • ‘transforming’ perinatal mental health support for those who are pregnant, new mothers and those who have experienced miscarriage or stillbirth

Robert Wilson, Head of the Sands and Tommy’s Joint Policy Unit, said:

“It is positive that the main parties’ manifestos recognise the need to improve maternity services.

“However, as outlined in our priorities document, we’re calling for stronger commitments that will ensure safe, equitable care for all  

“The next government must invest enough to support the transformative change that’s needed to improve maternity and neonatal care throughout the UK and save more babies’ lives.”