Sands is delighted that the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) has appointed MBRRACE-UK to run a national Maternal, Newborn and Infant Clinical Outcomes Review Programme. Sands is a member of MBRRACE, and will be involved in the new programme which will  investigate the deaths of women and their babies during or after childbirth, and also cases where women and their babies survive serious illness during pregnancy or after childbirth. The aim is to identify avoidable illness and deaths so the lessons learned can be used to prevent similar cases in the future leading to improvements in maternal and newborn care for all mothers and babies.  

Janet Scott, Research Manager at Sands, said: "Every day in the UK 17 families are devastated by the death of their baby either shortly before or soon after they are born. We believe a significant proportion of these deaths are potentially avoidable so we are extremely glad to be involved in this new initiative and to be able to add the perspective of parents. We look forward to working with this excellent team to improve understanding of how the deaths of many babies could be prevented."

Click here to read full details of the announcement.