The National Bereavement Care Pathway (NBCP) for Pregnancy and Baby Loss was launched in 2017.
The NBCP seeks to increase the quality of, and reduce the inequity in, the bereavement care provided by healthcare professionals after the loss of a baby or pregnancy at any gestation.
There are five pathways in total: miscarriage (including molar and ectopic pregnancy), Termination of Pregnancy for Fetal Abnormality (TOPFA), Stillbirth, Neonatal Death and Sudden Unexpected Death of an Infant (SUDI).
Initially funded by the Department of Health and Social Care, and with the backing of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Baby Loss, the Pathway has been led by Sands, working closely with a Core Group of partners consisting of baby loss charities and professional organisations.
Following a 'call for evidence', draft pathways were created on the basis of good practice across the country. Subsequently 32 healthcare settings (predominantly hospitals) in England piloted the pathway and evidenced real changes for parents and professionals in their trusts. Following the outcome of the independent evaluations published by Fiveways, the NBCP is being rolled out across England, based on a set of nine bereavement care standards.
For information regarding the roll out and to register your Trust's interest please click here
In Scotland five Early Adopter sites went live with the NBCP from March 2020 and a separate website specific to NBCP Scotland has been launched to support this work.
This England website was created in May 2019 and has been updated at various stages since. We welcome your feedback on how we can improve the resource for professionals and parents.
