Every week at York Hospital a family will learn that their baby is unlikely to survive birth.
We know there is nothing that can take away the pain for these families following a late pregnancy loss, stillbirth or death of their baby soon after birth, but we also know how precious those few hours or days can be before they have to say their final goodbyes.
At York Hospital, staff are grateful to have a designated room for parents to use and stay in with their baby. However, it is just a room at present. Its quite small and functional and we know it has the potential to be much better.
We want to provide the families who will sadly suffer a loss of their baby at our hospital each year somewhere they feel safe and cared for. We want them to have somewhere comfortable and quiet to sleep, somewhere with space to walk and space to sit, somewhere with access to fresh air, somewhere they can have family visit and somewhere we can give them quality time to start to say goodbye to their baby and begin their journey of grief.
Liz Ross is Head of Midwifery at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, she said:
"We know from talking to families who have used our existing space, how important these facilities are and that having a new maternity bereavement suite will give our families the best possible experience at one of the worst times of their lives."
"We are very fortunate to have already received huge support from the local community to launch this appeal and the money raised which will make such a difference for everyone that will use the suite both families and staff, and help us to provide the best possible care. We are incredibly grateful to everyone who is helping to make it possible."
Thank you to everyone who has donated, raised money and contributed. Work to create the suite is sadly on pause due to the Covid Pandemic, we hope to share an update later in the year when work will be able to progress. Any further money donated to to the appeal will help to further furnish the suite and provide additional support for maternity bereavement at our hospitals.
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