Dr Amelia Shaw, Consultant Neonatologist at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, has been nominated by bereaved parent, Jasmine, for the care she provided to her and her son.
In the nomination, Jasmine described Dr Shaw’s caring nature, she said: “I am nominating Dr Shaw because of how caring she was during comfort care. Before comfort care, she informed us we needed to say our goodbyes and allowed visitors to see our son. She arranged hand and footprints to be taken which I will always treasure. During comfort care, there was no rush to take the tube out and allowed us to take the lead.”
Jasmin described Dr Shaw going above and beyond her role.
“We was given a private room and we could stay as long as we liked with our son. Dr Shaw would pop in and check on us to see if we are ok gave a lot of time to us to listen and answer any questions. Dr Shaw made me food as I hadn’t eaten and encouraged me to eat. Dr Shaw was very culturally aware as in our religion we need to bury the body very quickly. She understood how important it is for us and arranged the paperwork quickly. She arranged medication for me through maternity assessment and went above and beyond her role to help us in our time of need.”
The Elaine Thorp Award for Bereavement Care aims to recognise the vital work done by midwives, nurses, and other health professionals to care for parents affected by pregnancy loss or the death of their baby.
On hearing that she had been nominated for the award, Dr Shaw said: “The impact of going through the loss of a pregnancy or death of a baby is unimaginable. If bereavement care is not performed to the best of all of our abilities, then this has significant consequences for the family in the future, prolonging and exacerbating their grief and impacting on their mental health.
“It is crucial to ensure the best bereavement care is therefore provided to not only support parents going through this devastating time but also to ensure their voices are heard, that parents are partners in decision making and that care is family centred. This involves ensuring parents receive informed choices about the ongoing care of their baby, that communication is open and honest, that care is tailored to address any spiritual or cultural needs and that parents are supported with every opportunity for memory making.”
“Bereavement care needs to be flexible to the specific needs of a family and there also needs to be an acceptance that this may change. As members of the neonatal team, it is our responsibility to ensure care continues with respect and kindness, and that dignity and privacy is maintained. Families need to be facilitated to have the time they need with their baby, to know that they are not alone and to ensure emotional support is offered afterwards.
“Sands and Elaine Thorp have been instrumental in helping improve bereavement care and moving towards high quality care for all. As part of the National Bereavement Care Pathway they are ensuring clinicians such as myself are supported to deliver our best care.
“I feel incredibly touched that a family has taken the time to nominate me for this award, after experiencing such as painful time in their lives. I'm honoured to be recognised in this way and it means a lot. I would like to thank the parent who nominated me and I will never forget the moment I found out.”
Find out more about the Elaine Thorp Award for Bereavement Care.