Over quarter of women and one in 12 partners 'suffering post-traumatic stress after miscarriage'

More than a quarter of women and one in 12 partners suffer post-traumatic stress three months after having a miscarriage, a new study has found.

Researchers at Imperial College London, who carried out the first ever study into post-traumatic stress in partners after miscarriage, demanded better psychological support for a woman and her partner after pregnancy loss.

Campaigners told The Independent women who lose their child after suffering a miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death are let down by a lack of counselling and support to help them deal with the trauma.

Frontline service providers say baby loss is an issue that is routinely overlooked by society despite the fact around 14 babies die before, during or soon after birth each day in the UK.

Women often receive tragic news their baby has died in tiny cramped windowless rooms and busy outpatient areas — with women and partners saying health professionals were insensitive or that they felt rushed after hearing distressing news.

Coronavirus chaos has profoundly worsened the situation as social distancing regulations have blocked partners from attending antenatal appointments. 

Professor Tom Bourne, lead author of the new research, said: “Partners are often ignored when a woman experiences pregnancy loss. Yet this research suggests that although partners do not suffer PTS as often as women, there still could be many thousands of partners living with post-traumatic stress, which is a serious condition that requires treatment.”

Ruth Bender Atik, national director of the Miscarriage Association, told The Independent healthcare professionals do their best but there are systemic problems.

She said: “Health professionals don’t always have enough understanding of the emotional, psychological implications which pregnancy loss can have. They see a lot of it. It can be difficult for them to understand how devastating it can be.

“Women have talked about psychological care, which was inadequate and insensitive. Such as someone doing a scan and saying: ‘There is nothing there now and no heartbeat’ without anything following it that indicated compassion or kindness.

“Some people are rushed through the system and they are left reeling with questions left unanswered and feeling that someone has not taken their loss seriously. Health professionals are not intending to do the wrong thing. They are moving swiftly from one difficult scenario to another.

“We do need a much higher level of understanding of recognition and of referral to services for people who have need for psychological support after losing a baby.”

A lack of specialist support provided by the NHS to help women deal with grief and trauma can increase distress to both women and to their partners, Ms Bender Atik added.

But she said services had improved in recent years due to many charities “working their socks off” to promote best care.

Nicki Fitzmorris, lead nurse at Birmingham Women's Hospital who specialises in looking after bereaved parents, told The Independent baby loss is not something most people think about unless it happens to them or someone they know.

She added: “It is not something you appreciate just how devastating it is. Pregnancy loss and baby loss rips families apart. Death is horrible and because we don’t like it we hide from it. When you become pregnant, you don’t think potentially this pregnancy will end before your baby is born.

“Not having that baby becomes a potential failure so people don’t talk about it. Healthcare staff are doing as much as they can with the resources they’ve got. The rooms where we care for those affected by baby loss and pregnancy loss within health services are often too small and airless without natural light and when you are feeling big emotions you need big spaces. Families say ‘we need to be able to see out.’”

Ms Fitzmorris is backing Birmingham Women’s Hospital Charity’s appeal for £3.5 million to build Woodland House, which would be the UK’s first standalone bereavement centre to support those families suffering the loss of a baby within a hospital.

“Woodland House would be a safe place where families can come to celebrate that brief life and to mourn their child around people who understand and who get it,” she added.  

Birmingham Women’s Hospital cares for more than 2,000 grieving mothers and fathers from up and down the country each year who have gone through baby loss.

Dr Clea Harmer, chief executive of stillbirth and neonatal death charity Sands, told The Independent that when her nephew was stillborn, it had a profound impact on the lives of the whole family.

She said: “It highlighted for me the lasting impact and the ripples. It isn’t just the parents. It is everyone else who is affected - family and friends. Often at Sands, we’re contacted by people who don’t know a stillbirth is possible in this country. One in four pregnancies is lost. Each one of those is a wanted baby.

“Following the death of a baby, grief is normal. You need support. Our survey found 60 per cent of bereaved parents needed additional psychological support but couldn’t access it on the NHS. Healthcare professionals can find it difficult to talk to and support women who have gone through baby loss because of society’s taboo. It is not included in their training.

“If there wasn’t such a taboo around baby loss, people would know risk factors for baby loss and would know the importance of reducing the risk of babies dying by not smoking, attending antennal screens and telling someone if your babies movements change. Women might know smoking in pregnancy is not good but they might not know it is linked to the baby dying.”

But Dr Harmer noted services had radically improved in how they support those going through baby loss in the last few years — with half of NHS trusts signed up to the bereavement care pathway and all trusts having shown interest in implementing it.

The pathway is a way to make sure anyone who suffers pregnancy or baby loss gets the bereavement care they need and deserve wherever they live in the UK, she added.

The comments come as The Independent spoke to  women whose lives have been irrevocably changed after losing their baby through a miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death to mark Baby Loss Awareness Week which runs from 5-11 October.

Jane Brewin, chief executive of Tommy’s baby charity, said: “For too long, women have not received the psychological support they need following baby loss, which can have profound consequences for their mental health and wellbeing. Key to improving services is making sure that everyone who loses a baby is followed up to assess their mental wellbeing, with support offered to those who need it and advice routinely given to help them prepare for a subsequent pregnancy.

“Baby loss can have a deep and lasting impact on both parents; it’s vital to recognise that partners experience the same loss and their grief is just as important. Baby loss can be incredibly lonely, and that isolation is magnified for those who feel they have to hide their heartbreak. Partners often feel huge pressure to be strong and supportive, holding it all together for the mother and wider family. Attitudes to baby loss and grief must change so that anyone who wants to open up or ask for help feels able to do so.”

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can contact stillbirth and neonatal death charity Sands on 0808 164 3332 or email helpline@sands.org.uk. The helpline is open from 9.30am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday, and until 9.30pm on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

You can contact the Miscarriage Association helpline on 01924 200799 or email the charity at info@miscarriageassociation.org.uk. The helpline is open from 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday.

You can also find bereavement support at The Lullaby Trust by calling 0808 802 6868 or emailing support@lullabytrust.org.uk.

To contact Petals to enquire about the charity’s counselling services, you can call 0300 688 0068 or email counselling@petalscharity.org.