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Pregnancy loss includes but is not limited to miscarriage (loss of a pregnancy before 24 weeks), termination (a medical or surgical procedure to end pregnancy), ectopic pregnancy (where a fertilised egg implants and grows outside of the uterus, meaning a pregnancy is not viable or a molar pregnancy (where a non-viable fertilised egg implants in the uterus, and the baby and placenta do not develop as they should).
If you have lost a pregnancy or baby, it is extremely important to talk to your GP, midwife or a medical professional as soon as you possibly can. They will be able to provide you with the professional medical care that you need. As well as providing access to useful routes of support such as talking therapies, a GP may also be able to help ensure you have the time off required to help process some of the physical and emotional effects of losing a pregnancy or baby.
It is also best to inform your manager, so they can begin to help you access any support available through the workplace itself, like nursing and medical services or Counselling through Occupational Health,. You may also wish to discuss taking bereavement leave – more detail on which can be found below. If you are not comfortable talking with your manager, please find someone else you can talk to – this might be a member of the OD Team, the Occupational Health team, a Trade Union representative, colleague or otherwise – it is important to be supported by the organisation.
Per the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service, there are number of minimum standards that you are entitled to in circumstances of child bereavement. Within the T&Cs, this is defined as anyone who had responsibility as one of the primary carers for a child who is now deceased – inclusive of adoptive parents, legal guardians and those fostering to adopt.
All bereaved parents are eligible for a minimum of two weeks of child bereavement leave and occupational child bereavement pay, which will include any entitlement to statutory parental bereavement pay. A bereaved parent will not be required to demonstrate any eligibility criteria in order to access bereavement leave or pay. For information on how your pay may be calculated, please refer to section 23, point 5 of the handbook. If both parents of the deceased child work in the same organisation, the entitlements apply to both staff.
Parents who experience a still birth from the 24th week or pregnancy will be eligible for these provisions and will subsequently still be eligible for the provisions set out in section 15 of the handbook. Bereaved parents do not have to take the two weeks of leave in a continuous block, and this leave is not compulsory – a bereaved parent can choose to continue working should they so wish. Child bereavement leave may be taken at any point up to 56 weeks following the passing of a child.
There are a number of specialist organisations and documents which may be able to help or support you following the loss of a pregnancy or baby. Included amongst some of the most highly-rated are:
Per the organisation’s New Parents Policy (PP24), the POD Advisory Team can be contacted for any advice, information or guidance as necessary in order to support both managers and employees in exceptional circumstances, such as pre-term birth, stillbirth, miscarriage or disrupted abortion.
To contact the POD Advisory Team, please get in touch via email on [email protected]. To download a copy of the New Parents Policy, please do so via Pandorda where you will be able to obtain the most recent copy.
Further support may also be obtained via the Occupational Health and Wellbeing service. For further information on referrals, please visit the Occupational Health and Wellbeing intranet page. You can also get in touch on [email protected].
