We’re delighted to announce the Sands Award for Bereavement Care will be one of the Royal College of Midwives’ Annual Midwifery Awards for 2017.

When a baby dies, the care that parents receive from the health professionals can have a huge impact on their long-term wellbeing. Good care cannot remove the pain and devastation that mums and dads experience, but it can offer vital support to the parents and families of a baby who has died, and the positive impact of good care can have long lasting effects.

The Sands Award for Bereavement Care recognises excellence in bereavement care provision by maternity staff for women and their families when a baby dies. This award will go to a midwife, student midwife, maternity support worker or maternity team who provide high quality, parent-centred, empathic and safe bereavement care.

The deadline for entries is 19th September 2016. The RCM Annual Midwifery Awards will take place on 7th March 2017.

Any RCM member midwife, student midwife, maternity support worker or maternity team is elegible to enter. Find out more about the award and enter on the RCM Awards website.

Improving the care bereaved parents receive is one of Sands’ core aims. To achieve this we work in partnership with health professionals and others to minimise the risks of stillbirth and to ensure the families of those babies who do die receive the best possible care. Find out more about how we do this here.