National Bereavement Care Pathway (NBCP) Cymru provides healthcare professionals in Wales with nationally recognised practical guidance when caring for a bereaved family – supporting them to better understand the needs of bereaved parents and making care more consistent across Wales.
Today the National Bereavement Care Pathway (NBCP) Cymru, delivered in collaboration with Sands, has been published. Its aim is to ensure all bereaved families receive consistently high‑quality, compassionate and personalised bereavement care following pregnancy or baby loss across all care settings.
The NBCP Cymru programme provides healthcare professionals in Wales with nationally recognised practical guidance when caring for a bereaved parent – supporting them to better understand the needs of bereaved parents and making care more consistent across Wales.
It is wonderful news that the National Bereavement Care Pathway is being rolled out in Wales. This is a major milestone and a big step toward a world where everyone affected by pregnancy or baby loss in Wales gets the high-quality care they deserve. This care should be tailored as far as possible to the individual parents' needs but will include things like compassionate communication from healthcare professionals, support in memory making, and bereaved parents having quiet space away from families who have given birth to live babies. I'd like to thank all those families who have told Sands what bereavement care should look like, and helping drive forward these changes.
- Dr Clea Harmer, Chief Executive, Sands
The pathway covers five types of loss, with tailored guidance and resources for:
- Miscarriage, Ectopic and Molar
- Termination of pregnancy due to fetal anomaly
- Neonatal death
- Stillbirth
- Sudden Unexplained Death in Infancy
The experience of many bereaved parents and healthcare professionals have inputted into the pathway, through focus groups, extensive consultation and co-development.
Work is currently underway to implement the pathway in hospital Boards across Wales. And we’ll be sharing more in the months and years ahead about how the implementation is happening and the impact the pathways have.
Find out more
Bereaved families continue to drive and influence this vital work and we are growing opportunities for families to get involved in a way that is right for them. If you are a bereaved parent in Wales and would like to find out more about how you can get involved, please complete this short sign-up form and a member of the Sands team will be in touch.
If you are working alongside bereaved families in Wales and would like to find out more about opportunities for professional development, please contact chloe.lazenby@sands.org.uk or sign up to our Professionals Bulletin.
Find out more about NBCP Cymru.
The NBCP across the UK
The NBCP is also in place in England and Scotland, with implementation underway in Northern Ireland.