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The Mumsnet Miscarriage Care campaign: what you can do

62 replies

RowanMumsnet · 16/06/2014 09:06

Hello

As you may have seen in the press and on the TV this morning, we're launching the next phase of our Miscarriage Care campaign today.

We want health trusts to implement our Code of Care, based on MNers' experiences.

We're asking Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt, shadow health spokesman Andy Burnham, and LibDem junior health minister Norman Lamb to pledge to include a commitment to improve miscarriage care, based on the principles in our code, in their 2015 election manifestos.

We need your help to make this happen - please have a look at our action page and get your clicking and sharing fingers ready.

And as ever, please post here to let us know what you think and whether you're getting involved. We'll post up more news here over the week.

Thanks
MNHQ

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RowanMumsnet · 16/06/2014 09:13

Oh, and if you tune in to This Morning at about 10.50 you should see our KatieMumsnet talking about the campaign with Sally, an MNer.

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smilingthroughgrittedteeth · 16/06/2014 10:11

Have shared on facebook and will email all 3 parties.

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JugglingFromHereToThere · 16/06/2014 10:38

Great, I'll definitely tune in to This Morning in a mo and try and catch that ...

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LittleMisslikestobebythesea · 16/06/2014 12:06

Tweeted and shared on Facebook

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squizita · 16/06/2014 13:12

Will be FB sharing, tweeting and blogging this week.

Also happy to speak (anon) about my experiences if needed.

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RowanMumsnet · 16/06/2014 13:39

Thanks very much all

Here's the This Morning clip if you missed it. Pro performance by Sally!

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RowanMumsnet · 16/06/2014 13:41

And here's a piece in Grazia; it's in the Daily Mirror as well and we'll put up a link when we have one.

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JugglingFromHereToThere · 16/06/2014 14:40

Anyone else feel slightly frustrated that quite so much campaigning on this seems to be required. What I mean is surely it should be enough for Mumsnet to gather together people's experiences as they have, and put forward a request for a Miscarriage Code of Care. Then the health department and health authorities should say thank you for letting us know about women's experiences and your excellent suggestions of ways that care can be improved, we'll get to work on implementing them right now! - And sorry for those who've received poor care in the past.
But I guess realistically it's always about communication and raising awareness.
I don't mind a bit of campaigning at times eg. quite happy to campaign to get Bounty out of post-natal wards.
It's just some things shouldn't need a campaign - evidently they do though Sad

BTW In your 5 or 7? stats piece should that be 11 women or 11% of women HQ? All the other stats are given as a percentage?

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JugglingFromHereToThere · 16/06/2014 14:46

And yes, well done to Sally on This Morning.
Phillip tried to be sympathetic didn't he, but I think they should have given more time to it to make sure they could go through things gently enough, possibly with a female presenter. Denise is often good though I think? Not easy to respond to people live on a phone-in talking about such difficult experiences.

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squizita · 16/06/2014 15:06

I was glad they mentioned why it's important to keep the remains... that in many cases they can find a cause and treat it. And so glad she is now at 31 weeks.

I bet those facts will give some hope to women watching TV in the depths of the bad times (whose Drs haven't bothered explaining).

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bethaniemccolgan · 16/06/2014 15:47

Hi ladies
I found out about your campaign from good morning Britain's chat this morning and wanted to share my petition and story.
I had some spotting on 29th of March this year when I had just turned what I thought was my 12 weeks point in my pregnancy and panicked, I got told to go to A&E straight away for a diagnosis. By this point I hadn't had a scan yet so a cant be totally sure but I was certainly was between 11-12 weeks. When I arrived at A&E I had no further spotting but was feeling very scared and nervous. I got told that they had no facilities to scan me at the weekend or in the evening which I was very upset and frustrated about and had to wait until Monday for. I went to the hosp for reassurance, diagnosis or even some support and never received any of the above. They eventually gave me an internal examination which they said that there was no sign of miscarriage and that you can sometime experience some bleeding throughout pregnancy and to go home and not worry. My first scan was on the Monday coming so I went to that as normal still feeling very apprehensive and just not 100%, to be told that I had lost my baby. I went through a missed miscarriage, which meant apart from that tiny amount of spotting I had I had no further signs or any bleeding at all. The following Friday I went for the op as I still hadn't had a natural miscarriage or any signs. I had to wait 5 days for the operation after being 'forgetting about' and not called/contacted about what my options where when they told me they would call the Tuesday to arrange a chat/appointment. I feel very let down by the NHS and there staff by what I had to go through and urge you all to read, sign and even share my petition to try and get as many as possible to get this issue raised in the House of Commons.
I have already go local MP's on board and have a radio interview planned and a few press releases so hopefully that spreads the word as well.
Thank you in advance.
Bethanie McColgan

epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/65474

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RowanMumsnet · 16/06/2014 16:07

Yes, the 11 is 11 individual women. The other stats are all percentages. 11 individuals isn't a huge proportion of the overall numbers responding, but we thought it was worth highlighting.

As others have said, obviously there is a good reason for keeping the baby's remains so that tests can be done (although this isn't always explained well), but it may also be that thought should be given to a less distressing alternative than asking women to keep the remains themselves, and transport them to hospital.

As to why we're having to reanimate this; we do see your point Juggling. NHS management has become very atomised under the last couple of governments, to the point where it's incredibly difficult to get all hospital trusts to change policies, even when (as, we like to think, in this case) the position is pretty unarguable.

That's why this time around we're taking the request to the top - to the politicians who are now, or who might be in 2015, in a position to insist that central levers are pulled.

And that's why every tweet, letter or email counts...

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AmyMumsnet · 16/06/2014 16:22

Great news, thanks to all of your tweeting and campaigning, #miscarriagecare is trending locally across the UK. Keep it up!

The Mumsnet Miscarriage Care campaign: what you can do
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AmyMumsnet · 16/06/2014 16:40

Even more great news - all of your tweeting has alerted Norman Lamb to our campaign and he's said he'll take a look at the page. Let's hope it leads to a pledge for better care.

The Mumsnet Miscarriage Care campaign: what you can do
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Forester · 16/06/2014 20:20

I fully support this campaign and have just emailed the MP's (as I don't do twitter)

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katieash76 · 16/06/2014 20:32

I fully support this campaign and will also be emailing the MPs. Thank you to mumsnet for all your campaigning, I strongly believe that all women who have to go through the heartbreak of miscarriage are treated the same and with respect and compassion.

I have had 7 first trimester miscarriages and also a loss at 19 weeks and even though I think I have had great care overall from my hospital, (especially with the late loss) the one part that saddens me is that I have never been offered counselling. I think women who have had several miscarriages should automatically be offered some counselling as the heartbreak can really eat away at you otherwise.

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happinessis · 17/06/2014 01:16

I'm feeling very sad that nothing has changed since I went through this 5 times over 12 years ago :'( I really did think things would have improved by now. Well done to all at Mumsnet for highlighting this issue.

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RowanMumsnet · 17/06/2014 09:04

All best wishes from MNHQ to those of you who've had to go through this, or are going through it at the moment.

And many thanks to everyone who's tweeting, emailing or writing to their MPs and to the politicians at the top who can really make a difference by including this issue in their 2015 manifestos.

Accounts of personal experience are really helpful in any communication you send. Even if - maybe especially if - you had great care; it will show that we're not asking for the impossible, and that many healthcare trusts manage to get it right, so there's no reason why they can't all do it.

We're in the Daily Mail today (slight trigger warning for upsetting headline).

Conservative health minister Dan Poulter has said: ''We have invested £35 million to help improve maternity care, including investment in bereavement rooms and additional support for women who suffer miscarriage or a still birth. By 2017 there will be specialist mental health midwives available in every maternity unit.'

Which is good, but not quite what we're asking for - which is a commitment to include better miscarriage care, based on the principles in our code, in party election manifestos.

Please keep up the tweeting, emailing, sharing and noise-making. We had excellent results yesterday but we need to keep going.

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Fattymcbatty · 17/06/2014 11:47

Hi, I don't do twitter! Is there anything I can share on Facebook?

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RowanMumsnet · 17/06/2014 12:03

Yes please!

Our call to action page

Or this page with seven shocking statistics about miscarriage care

We're also on Buzzfeed today with a good run-down of what the campaign is about.

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prettybird · 17/06/2014 12:35

You do know that the NHS (and Jeremy Hunt's remit) only covers England and that Scotland, Wales and Ireland have devolved Health Services? Hmm Are you planning on making contact with the relevant politicians in those countries? I can't see any references in the Campaign pages, but maybe I missed them.

It's a good campaign - but until you do that, you can't claim that it's a UK wide one.

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RowanMumsnet · 17/06/2014 15:17

Thanks prettybird, and yes we know health is devolved, honest. Our focus in this particular phase of the campaign is on the 2015 UK general election, which is why we've gone for these three particular politicians. The Scottish/NI/Welsh elections take place in 2016, and we'll do something similar in advance of that focusing on the relevant people.

We've found it's best to focus each phase of the campaign against one, clearly defined 'ask'; previously we've tried asking Mners to contact (for example) their own MPs, plus high-ranking Westminster politicians, plus devolved administrations, and so on - but the drop-off rate tends to be fairly high (understandably, given that people have only so much time to spare).

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prettybird · 17/06/2014 16:33

It might be worth making that clear - or at least, not making reference to it being a UK campaign, because at the moment it is not , it is an English campaign. Unfortunately, even many Scots don't realise that "their" NHS is a fully independent entity (and always has been) with a commercial relationship with NHS England.

I can understand the emphasis on the 2015 Westminster election. However, any health commitments that are made by any of the parties will only apply to England.

I say that having had two miscarriages, dealt with in 2 different hospitals in Scotland and can identify with many of the issues that you raise. In my case, they were MMCs and 2nd time round I had an horrific experience with the midwives misreading the sonographer's findings and repeatedly insisting on me coming back for a rescan (to the sonographer's surprise, who asked if I was deliberately letting nature take its course Hmm) and when they asked me to come back again for yet another scan, I threw my toys out of the pram (at which point they moved me into a private area Wink), refused to have yet more delay with more HCG blood tests (since my GP had already done three which confirmed absolutely that the pregnancy was no longer viable Sad) and insisted on an ERPC.

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essentialbabyland · 17/06/2014 18:30

I know from bitter experience how devastating miscarriages are. I have had two and I had very little understanding or support from anyone including my family. I still experience flashbacks and the sense of bereavement truly gets worse as I have got older. This campaign is about one of the most important issue in a woman's life. (I would add that my GP when he came to see me at home left me with two paracetamol tablets and told me to get up and walk about and get it over with!!!!!) I rest my case.

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Fattymcbatty · 17/06/2014 19:26

* graphic post warning * In my opinion, doctors seem to become slightly desensitised to miscarriages which can be hurtful. I remember when I had my third m/c, the doc removed my baby (11 weeks) 'manually', with very little warning (I had gone for a scan to check baby had died) and left it in a see through pot on the side. To them, I imagine, it was a bloody mass of nothingness, but to me it was my precious baby that I would never ever get to hold. I'll never forget that.

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