As a member of the Baby Loss Awareness Alliance, iHV supports the report published today by the Sands and Tommy’s Joint Policy Unit which makes clear that too many families continue to suffer the heartbreak of losing a baby.

The Saving Babies’ Lives Progress Report pulls together data from different sources for the first time to give everyone a shared understanding of the burden of pregnancy and baby loss across the UK. At the heart of the Saving Babies’ Lives report are the voices of bereaved parents and other family members.

Overall, the report paints a concerning picture with progress stalling and a risk of going backwards.

In England, the Government’s target to halve the number of stillbirths and neonatal deaths by 2025 compared to 2010 levels is not on track, and there is no current target or ambition for reducing baby deaths in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

The report also highlights that despite Government commitments to act on the findings of recent reviews of maternity services, this still hasn’t led to the fundamental change needed to save more babies’ lives.

The iHV joins with others in calling for pregnancy loss and baby death to be high on the political agendas of all parties and to be treated as the urgent priorities that they are.

The iHV is committed to raising awareness of Fathers’ mental health – and we want to share a short survey from the Fatherhood Institute www.fatherhoodinstitute.org and Fathers’ Network Scotland http://www.fathersnetwork.org.uk .

The survey asks first-time fathers about their recent (within 5 years) experiences of maternity services in Britain. We think this is an important issue and hope you can spare five minutes to fill it out yourself (if you are eligible) or share it among friends, family and work colleagues.

So far 750 fathers have already shared their experiences in the survey – it would be great to get more feedback for them – so please do share the survey link.

The closing date is 31 May, and the results will be published in time for Father’s Day on 17 June 2018.


As part of the highly acclaimed iHV Perinatal and Infant Mental Health training offers, the iHV has a one-day Fathers and Perinatal Mental Health Champion training programme for all health and social care professionals

For further information please contact [email protected]