About Sands and Tommy’s Joint Policy Unit

Our inaugural report brought together data from different sources for the first time to show the extent of pregnancy loss and baby deaths across the UK. 

Download the summary report
Download the full report*
Download the infographic 

*The stillbirth rate and extended perinatal mortality rate for Wales was updated in August 2023. In the original publication in May 2023, the infant mortality rate for Wales was incorrectly entered as the stillbirth rate.

There is still a long way to go to make the UK the safest place in the world to have a baby. Despite increasing policy focus on maternity safety over recent years, the fundamental change required to ensure safe, equitable care for all is not happening. According to most recent data, progress to reduce rates of deaths is slowing or reversing and experiences of care are deteriorating. 

This document sets out what we believe the next government must do to deliver safer maternity and neonatal services, so that fewer babies die and inequalities in loss are eliminated. What we are calling for:

1. Renewing the national maternity safety ambitions: We are not on track to meet the current ambitions. The next government must commit to renew and enhance these ambitions, with a focus on making the UK the safest place in the world to have a baby.
2. Eliminating inequalities in pregnancy and baby loss: There are stark and persistent inequalities in baby loss, particularly by ethnicity and deprivation. The next government must make a strong commitment to eliminating inequalities, underpinned by a comprehensive programme of research and improvement.
3. Delivering a fully funded workforce: There are particularly acute staffing issues in maternity services which are impacting the delivery of safe care. The next government must ensure the commitments made in the Workforce Plan are backed by adequate funding and expand the wider maternity and neonatal workforce so that nobody is without the care they need.
4. Putting in place a system that supports safe care: We are still not learning lessons when babies die.  The next government must move from supporting individual services which are deemed to be outliers, towards a comprehensive national approach, which addresses the fundamental issues and puts in place the key elements of a safe system.
5. Providing the best possible support throughout pregnancy and following loss: There are currently too many gaps in the support available throughout pregnancy and baby loss. Building on recent commitments, the next government must allocate funding to ensure services can provide the best possible support and care.

Download our ‘Priorities for the next government’ document 

The safety and quality of maternity and neonatal services are the responsibility of the board in each NHS Trust. However, board oversight has been highlighted as an issue in successive inquiries and reviews.  

We reviewed publicly available board papers and minutes for seven NHS Trusts in England to analyse whether the information presented to boards, the process for review, and actions taken enabled boards to deliver on this responsibility.  

Our findings across these three areas raise questions about boards’ ability to have a full understanding of the performance of maternity and neonatal units under their direction under the current system.  

Download the report.

Read our blog on HSJ.