Kettering MP proposes bill to put bereavement suites in all newly-built maternity units

Ms Wrighting will put forward the proposal to make bereavement suites a legal requirement for new maternity units.

The move is to prevent bereaved families having to use a room in the labour suite where they can be surrounded by joyous parents.

She will propose her bill on Tuesday (April 29) in Parliament after learning of experiences at Kettering General Hospital.

Ms Wrighting said: “Having a baby should be one of the happiest moments of your life, but sadly for some it can be one of the most devastating.

“To lose a baby in pregnancy, or during or after birth, and be able to hear babies being born and celebrations only adds to the pain.

“This bill is asking for newly-built maternity units to be designed so this will not happen and that bereaved families have somewhere separate to rest, be able to spend time with their baby and speak to bereavement midwives away from the main ward.”

She wants to see appropriate facilities made available for parents who go through the heartbreaking experience of losing a baby.

At Kettering General Hospital, where Ms Wrighting was born prematurely eight weeks early, the well-supported Twinkling Stars Appeal saw people fundraise for a new maternity bereavement suite.

Her Maternity Units (Requirement for Bereavement Suite) Bill puts forward the proposal to prevent this from ever happening in any new maternity units which are built by making a bereavement suite a legal requirement.

Kettering General Hospital (KGH) cares for up to 100 families each year who suffer the heartbreak of baby loss. Currently in the UK, 13 families a day lose their baby before, during or shortly after birth – around 4,500 babies a year.

An extension to KGH’s maternity unit, announced in February this year as part of work to offset the impact of RAAC, will see a new bereavement suite built behind the current wing.

It comes after the £1m Twinkling Stars Appeal was launched in 2019 to raise money to develop a new bereavement suite at the hospital.

KGH is not the only hospital which has seen the community come together to fundraise for a maternity bereavement suite. York Hospital’s suite opened in 2023 thanks to local support and a donation from stillbirth and neonatal charity Sands. The same year a maternity bereavement room opened at James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, funded in part by families.

Ms Wrighting said: “The generosity of people never fails to amaze me. In Kettering, the Twinkling Stars Appeal saw so many people donate, put on charity events and even skydive to raise money for this cause.

“While it is incredible that so many people did, we shouldn’t rely on public donations for something so important.

“We have an opportunity to build new maternity wards with bereavement suites so appropriate facilities are in place for families who have lost a child.”

Ms Wrighting’s proposal comes after she secured a Ten Minute Rule Bill motion, which allows a backbench MP to make the case for a new bill.