Today, 23 June 2025, we welcomed an announcement by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting MP, on maternity and neonatal care in England.
We are pleased that the new independent maternity and neonatal safety taskforce will include parent representatives, and that there will be an anti-discrimination programme to tackle inequalities in care for Black, Asian, and other underserved communities.
What does this mean for bereaved parents, families and those affected by baby loss?
So many parents have told us that they speak out about their babies and their experiences, so other families do not have to go through what they have been through and live with every day. They want lessons to be learned and action to improve systems and training; both when things go wrong in individual Trusts, but also at a national level to address fundamental systemic issues which exist in maternity and neonatal care; to create a safe system for everyone.
We are proud and pleased to see that the Government will develop an anti-discrimination programme to tackle inequalities in care for Black, Asian, and other underserved communities.
This is a big victory: for years, Sands has been campaigning in partnership with Black and Asian bereaved parents and families, and many other organisations, friends and allies working in maternity safety and the baby loss community.
“We hope that the announcement to deliver an anti-discrimination programme to tackle inequalities in care for Black, Asian, and other underserved communities is the start of much needed work to tackle the inequalities in baby loss. This programme must be co-created with bereaved parents and importantly be the catalyst for a much wider, comprehensive, cross-Government approach to this important issue, which addresses the varied factors that can contribute to inequalities in maternal and perinatal health outcomes.”
- Dr Clea Harmer, Chief Executive of Sands
“Taking part in the meeting with Wes already shows me that there is hope for things to change, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to share my story with him. Sands and Wes have given me a voice to make a difference. We should be able to trust a system we all pay into -one that's meant to care for us at our most vulnerable. I truly hope this marks the beginning of real, lasting change.”
- Amber Lincoln, Sands Campaigner, mother of Anaya and Mael
“I welcome today’s announcement from the Secretary of State. It’s been rewarding to be part of the discussions with the government around improvements needed in bereavement care for Black families. Public acknowledgment and a clear plan to address the glaring disparities in baby loss are long overdue. Ensuring there is a clear focus on inequalities is something I’ve advocated for years.
"Today’s announcement is a long-awaited one. One which I am pleased to have been a part of and I will continue to hold the government accountable to, and for, as the months progress. This isn’t just about preventing more Black babies dying but honouring all the Black babies that we have already lost.”
- Rachel Burrell, Sands Campaigner
This is an important first step, but the Government needs to do more
However, we are concerned that a number of key areas haven’t been addressed. That includes the need for the Government to be able to track their progress on the improvements they’re proposing.
“I welcome the speech from the Secretary of State today around maternity reform to ensure that patients are safe; from initial check-in to the point of delivery. It starts the move to create a safe space for staff to speak up, and to ensure that patient safety is re-established as a basic core principle. There is still a lot more to be done within the training in and around the workforce; whether this be mandatory unconscious bias training to frontline staff on a regular basis, or training around health inequalities and how to address them. Staff should be supported to understand their biases and ensure that these do not affect patient care.”
- Amarjit K Matharoo, Sands Campaigner
The Sands and Tommy’s Joint Policy Unit (JPU) has previously provided recommendations on how progress can be measured. Most recently, in May 2025, our joint Saving Babies’ Lives report provided ten clear actions for policy makers.
We called for a new target to reduce stillbirth, neonatal death and preterm birth in England and to end inequalities in pregnancy and baby loss based on ethnicity and deprivation.
The Sands and Tommy’s JPU report calls for a target date of 2035, to align these new maternity ambitions within the 10 Year Plan for the NHS in England. It is crucial these targets are agreed and committed to as they are focused on matching the best-performing countries in Europe, with the aim of making England one of the safest places in the world to give birth.
We are also concerned that there was no acknowledgement of the action that needs to be taken to make sure that if a baby dies, their parents receive excellent bereavement care.
“Currently every day in the UK 13 babies die shortly before, during or just after birth, and at least one in six pregnancies ends in miscarriage. This is about more than numbers, behind the statistics are devastated parents and heartbroken families. Pregnancy and baby loss leave a deep and lasting impact on thousands of people across the UK every year.
“It is the Government's duty to provide both safe maternity and neonatal care, and compassionate bereavement care. We know good bereavement care is a crucial part of a supported grief journey for parents.”
- Dr Clea Harmer, Chief Executive of Sands
What happens next?
We will be following up with the Secretary of State to find out if improvements in bereavement care will be featured in this work.
Sands leads the National Bereavement Care Pathway in England, which provides health care professionals with frameworks, tools and educational resources to support excellent care after all forms of pregnancy and baby loss.
“All 128 NHS England trusts with a maternity unit have publicly committed to adopting the nine standards in the NBCP, but we know delivery of these standards in hospitals can only happen if staff have the correct training and resources, and trusts have the funding to make improvements to their infrastructure so they can provide essential services like safe, private, sound-proofed bereavement rooms or spaces.
“And if we discover this important area has been neglected, we will urge the Secretary of State to revisit his plans and remind him of the conversations had with bereaved parents who share our belief that access to good bereavement care is vital for those parents who devastatingly experience pregnancy or baby loss.”
- Dr Clea Harmer, Chief Executive of Sands
What does this mean for the rest of the UK?
The JPU urges all UK governments to commit to targets to reduce stillbirth, neonatal death and preterm birth and to end inequalities in pregnancy and baby loss based on ethnicity and deprivation, so there is a focus across the UK on ensuring everyone can benefit from the best possible outcomes.
The NBCP has been made mandatory for all health boards in Scotland and we are currently working with governments in Northern Ireland and Wales to get NBCP programmes in place there.
We need your help
Can you take a minute to contact your local representative to ask them to set new targets to save babies’ lives and end inequalities in baby loss across the UK?
All you need to do is fill in our simple form, and we’ll send the email for you.