MORE than half of Scotland’s fourteen NHS boards employ no child bereavement counsellors – leaving women and couples who have lost a baby with little internal support.
Eight health boards across the country have no full-time specialist to help those who have suffered from miscarriages, stillbirths or the death of a baby.
Critics said the figures showed the “brutal reality of the understaffing and under-resourcing of our NHS” and called for “radical action” to address gaps in health care.
In NHS Lanarkshire, where one child bereavement councillor is employed, there have been 489 referrals due to miscarriage, stillbirth and neonatal death since 2012.
But NHS Lothian, NHS Highland, NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Dumfries and Galloway, NHS Orkney, NHS Shetland and NHS Western Isles all confirmed they had no full-time, specialist staff.
Scottish Labour MSP Mary Fee, who obtained the figures through Freedom of Information laws, said it was “self-evident” that parents should be provided with the right support.
She said: “Losing a baby is unimaginably tough for parents, and is one of the hardest things anybody could ever have to deal with.
“It is surely self-evident that our health service should provide specialist counsellors for parents having to go through this kind of tragedy.
“This is the brutal reality of the under-staffing and under-resourcing of our NHS under the SNP.
“Labour has set up a workforce commission, made up of independent experts, which will examine solutions to the staffing crisis in our NHS.
“The truth is, it is only with radical action that we can create a health service that works for the many.”
NHS Grampian, NHS Shetland and NHS Lothian all said they pointed grieving mums and couples towards outside agencies.
The latter was previously caught up in Edinburgh’s baby ashes scandal, which left families devastated after it emerged baby remains had been buried in secret for decades at the city’s Mortonhall Crematorium.
Professor Alex McMahon, NHS Lothian’s nursing director, said: “Losing a child through bereavement is a profoundly painful and difficult experience for parents and it is absolutely vital they get the support they need within their local communities.
“We work closely with a network of local bereavement organisations to ensure appropriate support is available for families when and where they need it.”
Kate Kenmure, NHS Shetland’s child and family health manager, said the team was small and works closely with local groups, adding: “At this time we do not have any plans to employee a child bereavement counsellor directly.”
NHS Tayside said it had employed a full time maternity and neonatal bereavement counsellor for around 12 years, while NHS Highland said it had a “bereavement officer to support families following any death in Raigmore Hospital”, with its chaplaincy service also offering support.
In Glasgow, a dedicated bereavement service for families coping with the loss of a baby or child was recently set up at the Royal Hospital for Children.
Health Secretary Shona Robison said “any miscarriage, stillbirth or loss of a baby is a tragedy for the family involved and our sympathies are always with them”.
She added: “The Scottish Government fully recognises the important work that Sands UK, SiMBA, Sands Lothian, Bliss, SCIM and the Scottish Cot Death Trust undertake throughout Scotland in supporting bereaved families following a stillbirth, neonatal or a cot death, when they most need it, and working with health professionals – who are trained at both under and post graduate level in bereavement care themselves – to improve the quality of care and services provided to bereaved parents and their families.”
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