Hello my name is Jo Butterfield and I’m a Programme Manager on the West Yorkshire Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Programme.
This week is Baby Loss Awareness Week. The loss of a baby at any stage in pregnancy, as well as struggles with fertility difficulties, has a profound impact on everyone affected. Most of us will know someone who has experienced baby loss or will have their own personal experience of it. 1 in 4 people in the UK experience pregnancy or baby loss but there is still a sense of discomfort in talking about it, it can feel taboo or shameful so many keep silent about their feelings. Coping with the associated grief is a very personal experience and the psychological impact, is often overlooked.
Our new West Yorkshire Maternal Mental Health Service is in development and will focus on offering therapy for birth-related trauma, baby loss and tokophobia (extreme fear of childbirth). My amazing colleagues Lisa Hadley, Project Manager, and Rebecca Thomas, Specialist Perinatal Midwife are the driving force behind ensuring that this new service is designed and functions in a way that meets the needs of all our population. Their drive and commitment to the service, and most importantly their compassion, never ceases to amaze me. Thank you Rebecca and Lisa.
In developing the new regional service it has been important for us to learn from people with lived experience and to take a trauma informed approach. Baby loss is a difficult subject to discuss and we are grateful to the people who shared their experiences so we can learn how to offer personalised, culturally appropriate support. Rebecca is also working to ensure that barriers to accessing support services are removed, by highlighting and addressing issues prior to the service launching and thinking creatively about how and where services are provided. Her inclusion toolkit is a work of wonder and helps to set the cultural framing of the service.
Lisa is keeping the mobilisation on track, while ensuring integration and collaboration with other services including maternity services, VCSE partners and specialist perinatal mental health services. We often talk about our new service being part of a jigsaw and that we need to design it in a way that fits into a bigger “picture” of services available, building connections to ensure that there are no gaps between us.
This week many of us will take time to think about and support the thousands of families affected by loss each year and to remember much-loved babies who died too soon. We know that many of our staff will be part of these families and may be struggling with decisions relating to reproduction, face ongoing impacts on their daily lives and long term challenges as a result of their experiences.
Research has shown that a birthing parent's experience significantly impacts pregnancy outcomes and the early years of a child's life. When that experience involves traumatic loss, it can profoundly affect the well-being of both the child and the family so by focusing on the well-being of mothers and birthing parents, we are also prioritising the well-being of future generations.
We would like to know more about positive experiences of support through baby loss in order to incorporate good practice into our new service. If any staff member feels able to share those experiences, please email Rebecca.
If any staff want to contribute ideas about how employers can better support families who are experiencing fertility struggles or baby loss, please email wyhubstaffsupport
If you need support to manage your feelings about baby loss or fertility problems and finding it difficult at work, you can self-refer to our staff therapy service.
Hello, we would like to introduce ourselves as the West Yorkshire Allied Health Professions Council. We represent a very dynamic and vibrant community of Allied Health Professions across our health and care system. For anyone who doesn’t know – AHPs, as we are collectively known, consist of 14 professions – we are occupational therapists, physiotherapists, radiographers, podiatrists, speech and language therapists, paramedics, dietitians, prosthetists and orthotists, art therapists, music therapists, drama therapists, orthoptists, osteopaths and operating department practitioners. Together, we form the third largest workforce across health and care, working with people of all ages to support them in living their lives to the full.
It’s timely that the last of our hospice blogs is being published during Hospice Care Week. This is an opportunity to recognise and celebrate the incredible work and commitment from our ten West Yorkshire hospices. Each of our hospice blogs have highlighted the range of diverse person-centred support which our hospices offer. They have also shown the commitment from every hospice in West Yorkshire to reducing inequalities by working with local communities to raise awareness of the range of available hospice support.
Healthcare partners working in tobacco prevention joined our first West Yorkshire Tobacco Control Summit held in Leeds on 5 October 2023.
In line with 
We were pleased to welcome to Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Dr John Paul Bagala, Clinical Lead for Safe Motherhood at the Ugandan Ministry of Health.