In March of this year I suffered my fourth early miscarriage. Anybody who has been through the heartbreak of miscarriage will know what a devastating and lonely experience it is. To go through this repeatedly is agonising. Every time it happens the worry that something is wrong and that there is an underlying cause of your miscarriages grows. My biggest fear has always been that my pregnancies have been viable and my miscarriages might have been preventable. I therefore found it very difficult to accept after my second loss that the NHS would only offer tests for the causes of my miscarriages if I went through this devastating experience for a third time. Thankfully, I was incredibly fortunate to have a successful third pregnancy, and now have a beautiful two year old little boy.
At the end of last year my husband and I decided that it was time for our son to have a little brother or sister. Naively, I let myself believe that everything would be fine this time, only to face that familiar sinking feeling when I noticed some spotting at five and a half weeks. This was my third miscarriage, which would be closely followed by a fourth a few months later.
The one thing that I took from this was that now, surely, somebody will care. I will not be on my own anymore, I will stop hearing 'oh, it’s just bad luck' and I might start to get some answers about why this is happening to me again and again. In researching my options, I came across the Tommy's Charity and the amazing work that they have done setting up specialist miscarriage Research Centres. After checking out that I met the criteria for referral, I spoke to my doctor. It was at this point that I became aware of the serious lack of miscarriage care and support that is available in Wales. Not only this, but the Welsh NHS actively prevents women in Wales from accessing specialised care in England. After several meetings with my local Assembly Member, letters to the Welsh health secretary and the local Health Board (the Welsh version of CCJs) it was confirmed that there was no way that I could gain a referral to any of the Tommy's Clinics. I still struggle to understand how I can pay into the same system as people living over the border and yet I am not able to access the same care that they have access to.
The policy in Wales is for women to receive their care in Wales, women need to have exhausted options in Wales (and none of this care is specialised) and need the support of their consultant before they stand any chance of getting a referral to specialised services across the border. This is a harrowing experience for parents and can take a painfully long time. Even if referrals across the border were easier, the distances involved would make accessing this care prohibitive for many. In my case it took four months to get to see a local consultant where I had an examination and two blood tests – That was over three months ago and I am still awaiting my results. I thought that, at the very least, I would be offered a reassurance scan during my last pregnancy – my doctor tried, but the hospital wouldn’t see me.
The bottom line is that women all over Wales are having to endure the devastation of multiple miscarriages and are being given very little hope of understanding why this is happening to them. This lack of care and support at one of the loneliest and most difficult times in their lives is leaving thousands of couples feeling isolated and hopeless.
This lack of care for Welsh couples is utterly unacceptable. I have therefore started a petition calling on the Assembly for Wales to provide quality, specialised miscarriages services for mums in Wales. I hope that we can achieve much better care for women in Wales by showing the health secretary that there is a need for these services. It would also help if people who have experienced problems in accessing quality care in Wales could share their stories in the comments below or on the petition. This information would be invaluable in convincing the health secretary that the current set up is not fit for purpose and that it is having a detrimental impact on the wellbeing of thousands of women in Wales.
Take a look at Jessica's petition here and find out more about Baby Loss Awareness Week here.