YORK Hospital will be lit up in blue and pink this week in honour of Baby Loss Awareness Week.
Every year thousands of people in the UK are affected by the death of a baby or experience pregnancy loss, with Baby Loss Awareness Week aiming to highlight the emotional impact on families.
The week is an opportunity for bereaved parents, and their families and friends, to unite with others across the world to commemorate their babies’ lives.
The hospital is being lit up at the request of Annika Dowson.Annika, who lives in Helmsley with husband James and son Nathaniel, has long campaigned to raise awareness of the death of a baby after the couple’s daughter, Gypsy, was stillborn in 2008.
Elizabeth Ross (pictured below), head of midwifery at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: ‘We are committed to improving care and facilities for bereaved parents and we continue to work closely with York SANDS (Stillbirth and neonatal death charity) on this.
“We maintain our focus on improving bereavement care for people affected by pregnancy and baby loss. In recognition and support of this, we are part of a national pilot for implementing the new National Bereavement Care Pathway led by our bereavement midwife. The aim is to ensure that all bereaved parents are offered equal, high quality, individualised, safe and sensitive care.”
York Hospital will be lit in pink and blue until Monday when the event will culminate with a global ‘Wave of Light’. On this date, families across the world are invited to take part by lighting a candle at 7pm.
Nationally, a coalition of 60 charities working to prevent baby deaths and pregnancy loss have called for better bereavement care for parents across the UK.
It called on all health bodies to adopt a new programme - the National Bereavement Care Pathway - to ensure that families who have experienced loss are given the best support possible.
The standards include giving parents the opportunity to spend time with their babies, a dedicated bereavement room and bereavement care training for all staff who have contact with grieving parents.
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