I supported the launch of a very important joint report from two pregnancy and baby loss charities, Sands and Tommy’s entitled Saving Babies’ Lives Progress Report. This report pulls together data on the impact of pregnancy and baby loss across the UK for the first time, painting a concerning picture of stalled progress and a serious risk of regression. In England, the Government’s target to halve stillbirths and neonatal deaths by 2025 compared to 2010 levels is not on target. The report makes some vital recommendations to address this: targets to save babies’ lives in every UK nation, tackling staffing shortages in maternity services, more investment in research, improved data collection, and ensuring lessons are learned from baby deaths.

We must keep working to ensure every mother and every baby receives the standard of care they deserve. Black babies are almost two times more likely to be stillborn. Stillbirths are nearly two times more common in the most deprived areas of the UK. As well as working to improve maternity care across the board, we need binding government targets to address persistent inequalities like these.