Mumsnet Campaign – Kick Off Thread – Lets Get Blogging

The campaign kicks off on Monday, 10th October and will carry on throughout the week.

The aim of the campaign is to highlight the reality of miscarriage, often a taboo topic, brushed under the carpet of life. It is estimated that every third woman will at some time in her life suffer the loss of a pregnancy. It is sadly not unusual, and it is time that we talked honestly and openly about what miscarriage means and how we can help women who suffer from one.

Particularly the extremely different standards of care offered by health care trusts across the country should be scrutinised and a Code of Care introduced.

Mumsnet conducted a survey this year in order to find out how women across the UK had found the standard of care in their local trust. One thing swiftly became apparent – no miscarriage is easy to cope with but the care received made a huge difference to how the women coped with their loss.

Insensitive staff, unwillingness to scan patients, treating patients of miscarriage in the same are as prenatal checks of healthy women, lack of information about appropriate treatment – all this can and must be avoided.

The Mumsnet Bloggers’ Network will be working with Mumsnet to help highlight the campaign. We shall host guest posts from women who have experienced miscarriage, letting them tell their story. If you would like to tell your story, please go to this thread and choose a blogger.

Watch this space for more information.

The Mumsnet Miscarriage Code of Care

1. Supportive staff
GPs, Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit (EPAU) and A&E staff should be trained in communication and listening skills (including things NOT to say to women who are miscarrying), and the psychological effects of miscarriage. Follow-up appointments and/or counselling for those who feel they need it should be routinely offered after miscarriage.

2. Access to scanning
Access to scanning facilities in the case of suspected miscarriage should be easier in cases where scanning is clinically indicated. This could mean Early Pregnancy Assessment Units (EPAUs) opening seven days a week and/or portable ultrasound and trained medical staff being available in A&E and gynaecological units. When women have miscarried at home and have experienced severe symptoms, they should be offered a scan to check that there are no ongoing complications. Where medical staff do not believe that a scan is clinically indicated, or that it would be unlikely to produce reliable results, this decision should be communicated to the patient with tact and understanding, and with a full explanation of the reasons.

3. Safe and appropriate places for treatment
Women undergoing miscarriage or suspected miscarriage should be separated from women having routine antenatal and postnatal care, or women terminating an unwanted pregnancy. Waiting times in confirmed as well as threatened pregnancy loss, but, in particular, for women who need surgery, should be kept to a minimum and not be spent in antenatal or labour ward settings.

4. Good information and effective treatment
Everyone who has a miscarriage confirmed should have the the available options explained to them. What each option involves, the amount of pain and discomfort that might be experienced, and the likely timescales for each should be explained clearly, sympathetically and honestly either by trained medical professionals or in a leaflet. Women miscarrying at home should be offered appropriate prescription pain relief. In the case of miscarriage occurring in hospital, HCPs should discuss with the parents what they wish to happen to the remains of the baby (i.e. it should not be disposed of routinely without prior consultation). Consideration should be given to renaming the surgical procedure Evacuation of Retained Products of Conception (ERPC), as many parents find this confusing and upsetting.

5. Joined-up care
Community midwife teams and GPs should be informed immediately when miscarriage has occurred, and subsequent bookings and scans cancelled, to avoid women who have miscarried being chased by HCPs for ‘missing’ pregnancy appointments. HCPs should be mindful of a woman’s previous miscarriage/s when assessing her needs during subsequent pregnancies, acknowledging any extra anxieties and dealing with them empathetically.

Although this code is based mostly on the experience of Mumsnetters who have miscarried in-utero pregnancies pre-24 weeks, we think many of its points apply equally to women experiencing stillbirths and ectopic pregnancies.

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