Deirdre Costigan

Every single baby loss is a tragedy of almost incomprehensible magnitude, but I welcome the Amos report commissioned by this Government, which I believe will prove to be a watershed moment for those families. The report highlights that black, Asian and economically deprived families face significantly higher risks of death and complications in maternity and neonatal care. Babies of black and Asian ethnicity face higher rates of dying shortly after birth compared with white babies, and black mothers face up to a 40% higher risk of miscarriage than white mothers. For many of my constituents in Ealing Southall, which is one of the most ethnically diverse constituencies in the country, that brings an added level of risk when using maternity services. I recently met a family from Southall who had lost their newborn shortly after birth. Mum and dad did not have good English, so their 13-year-old daughter had to translate for them and explain that they were being asked to agree to turn off their new baby’s life support machine. This 13-year-old girl then ended up standing in front of a judge, arguing on behalf of her family. She showed me the heartbreaking letter the judge sent her, explaining the decision to end life support—a decision which she and her parents still cannot accept or even understand. We rightly focus on the parents when a child dies, but brothers and sisters are too often overlooked when it comes to support after a family bereavement. My 13-year-old constituent found that some of the medical professionals struggled to communicate with her about what had happened to her newborn baby sister. She told me that she felt there was not enough help available for her, both as a child experiencing the loss of a sibling and as a child carrying all the burden of communicating with officialdom on behalf of her family. No 13-year-old child should have to go through what my constituent experienced, so I welcome the Government’s commitment to more compassionate and individualised care for every bereaved family, but I hope that the Secretary of State will work on the design of this, to ensure that there are measures in place to support families for whom English is a second or even third language, and support for siblings who act as the family translator. Every woman should feel safe and looked after in the NHS. It is important that all women are listened to, including black and Asian women. I welcome the new task and finish group on miscarriage and baby loss care, but I urge it to look closely at the way that black and Asian women often face double jeopardy when accessing maternity and neonatal services, and to find ways of removing this inequality once and for all.