Bereavement

Our maternity service bereavement team is available to support women and families experiencing loss from 14 weeks.

For early pregnancy loss (before 14 weeks) please refer to our early pregnancy information here.

A bereavement midwife can provide physical, psychological and emotional support, alongside our wider team of midwives, obstetricians and chaplains. They can support you with decisions you may need to make, including funeral arrangements, as well as your follow-up care.

Information to help you following the loss of your baby

As well as emotional support, it is important that you receive the care and information you need for your physical recovery. After you go home, you will be offered support from the community midwifery team, who can answer questions about your recovery in the days following your baby’s birth.

Our maternity bereavement team can also support you and your family to spend time with your baby and create memories together. Our Snowdrop Suite provides a private and supportive environment for families.

Maternity service bereavement team contact details

07919 175438

esht.bereavement-maternity@nhs.net

Information and contact details for our central bereavement service is available here.

Looking for information about a baby's burial, cremation or final resting place?

If you or your family experienced a stillbirth or pregnancy loss in the past and are trying to find information about your baby’s burial, cremation or final resting place, our Patient Experience Team can help.

We understand that making this enquiry may be difficult, particularly if you have been living with unanswered questions for many years. Our team will treat your enquiry sensitively and work with the relevant services to try to find the information available.

Please contact our Patient Experience Team: esh-tr.PatientExperience@nhs.net

Snowdrop suite for maternity bereaved families

We have a bereavement suite for parents who have experienced any baby loss. This is called the ‘Snowdrop Suite’ and provides bereaved parents with a little oasis of peace and calm at a very difficult time in their lives. The suite was donated with funds raised by Sands, the leading stillbirth and neonatal death charity in the UK.

The Snowdrop suite is located near to the entrance of the delivery suite to enable on-going care to be given by the midwifery/bereavement team. It is designed to enable bereaved families an opportunity to create memories and spend time with their baby in a safe and sympathetic environment. It enables time to form the bonds and memories which are so important to the grieving process.

Accordion

A directory of support organisations and local contact numbers can be found below:

Information to help you following the loss of your baby

Sands

The Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity provides support to anyone affected by the death of a baby, before, during or shortly after birth, whenever this happened and for as long as they need support.

Hastings and East Sussex Sands

Hastings and East Sussex SANDS – Facebook page

Sands Bereavement Support Book

The Lullaby Trust

Is a charitable organisation aiming to prevent unexpected deaths in infancy and promote infant health, they also provide a support service for families who experience the sudden loss of a baby or young child.

Bereavement support

National bereavement care pathway

Publish a database of support links:

Resources for bereaved parents and families

Aching Arms

Aching Arms are available to help and support you when you’ve experienced the heartbreak of losing your baby, during pregnancy, at birth or soon after.

Aching Arms

4Louis

4Louis is a UK charity that works across the country to support anyone affected by miscarriage, stillbirth and the death of a baby or child. They also work to improve the care bereaved families receive from health care and other professionals.

4Louis

Baby loss certificate

You can get a certificate in memory of your baby if your pregnancy ends before 24 weeks (or 28 weeks if your pregnancy ended before 1 October 1992).

You do not need to request a certificate if you prefer not to. It’s optional.

Further information can be found on the government website here:

Request a baby loss certificate – GOV.UK

We follow the national bereavement care pathway (NBCP) which is based around nine core standards and is updated after input from parents and professionals. The national bereavement care pathway exists to improve the quality and consistency of bereavement care received by parents in NHS trusts after pregnancy loss or the death of a baby. This initiative is supported by Sands.

national bereavement care pathway logo