Current campaigns

Our Why17? campaign is the umbrella to all our campaigning and lobbying activities, with our priorities and calls to government set out in the Saving Babies' Lives Report 2009

We actively communicate with parliamentarians about the key issues, and are also responding to relevant consultations and inquiries that are being carried out as part of the NHS reform. Parliamentarians are urged to get behind our issues and work with Sands to achieve the results we want, and we also encourage parents to help us to raise awareness with their local representative.

We are currently working on an updated report, due to be launched in January 2012, and between now and Spring 2012 we will be holding a series of one-to-one briefings with key parliamentarians to run through the key points and our main calls on government.

Sands launches new report in Westminster: January 2012

It is over two years since Sands launched the acclaimed Saving Babies’ Lives Report 2009 at a parliamentary event in Westminster. The launch sparked huge media and political interest in the issues, and acted as a springboard for many of our campaigning activities.

On Wednesday 18th January, Sands launched a new report : ‘Preventing Babies’ Deaths: what needs to be done’ at the House of Commons to a packed Member’s Dining Room, where 75 MPs and 150 other guests, including key researchers, clinicians, health officials, member of Royal Colleges and Heads of major charities, joined Sands parents, supporters and staff.

The event was hosted by Dr Dan Poulter, MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Maternity, and member of the Commons Health Select Committee. Anne Milton, MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health spoke at the event, reiterating her support for Sands and the work the charity is doing, particularly in the arena of stillbirth prevention. She particularly called on all those present to raise awareness of stillbirth, to raise the profile of this issue; in order to ensure the support that is need to improve maternity services and the delivery of care.

Guests also heard from Neal Long, Chief Executive of Sands, who gave an overview of the report, and Colin Pidgeon, a Sands parent, who shared his incredibly moving story of the stillbirth of his daughter Daisy, powerfully illustrating the real and devastating impact a baby’s death has.

Throughout the day the media also highlighted the launch of the report, with widespread coverage achieved across the BBC and ITV, as well as the national press, including: The Sun, Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Daily Mirror and Independent to name but a few. The story was also widely picked up by regional radio and press across the length and breadth of the UK, with Sands spokespeople being interviewed on over 30 radio stations, and the report featuring in over 100 regional papers.

Thank you to all the Sands Campaigning Voices and other parents who lobbied their MPs ahead of the event, and who attended at the House of Commons. We are developing a campaigning plan for 2012 to ensure that we keep up the momentum and do everything we can to keep stillbirth and neonatal death in the spotlight.

Sands and Grazia join forces to launch major stillbirth campaign

In the UK, 11 babies are stillborn every day. And shocking new research, published last month in The Lancet, found Britain is ranked second from bottom: 33 out of 35 countries in the developed world for stillbirth rates. Countries like Australia – which have invested heavily in research – have managed to bring their rates down. In the UK, they have remained the same for the past 10 years. This is simply not acceptable.

Which is why Grazia has joined forces with Sands, to demand change.

We want the government to fund research to discover what is causing these babies to die, and to develop new ways of screening pregnancies to find out which babies are at risk of stillbirth… and save their lives before it is too late.

Click here to find out more about how you can get involved and support this campaign.

Sands responses to the NHS Reforms

1 March 2011: Sands responds to the Health Select Committee Inquiry into Complaints and Litigation

The Health Committee chose to carry out an inquiry into the complaints and litigation process.

Read Sands response here.

11 October 2010: Sands responds to the NHS Transforming Outcomes Framework consultation

This consultation is “about establishing that accountability at a national level is in an open and transparent way. It is about determining how the success of the NHS should be judged and, therefore, the success of the Government in delivering our vision for healthcare.”

Read Sands response here.

Read the full Transforming Outcomes Framework document here.

5th October 2010: Sands responds to the NHS White Paper consultation

The NHS White Paper, Equity and excellence: Liberating the NHS, sets out the Government's long-term vision for the future of the NHS. The Department of Health is consulting on all elements of the White Paper's proposals.

Read Sands response here.

To read the full White Paper, click here.

Improving bereavement care services campaign: Autumn 2010

A major survey of bereavement care provided by UK maternity units to parents whose baby dies before, during or shortly after birth, published in June 2010 by Sands, the stillbirth and neonatal death charity, revealed worrying disparities in care for bereaved parents. We are campaigning to highlight some of the problems and to call for a number of changes.

Read our Briefing for parliamentarians here

To lobby your local parliamentarian on this issue, click here.

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