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Brooke and Wil became parents to their son Gwilym Ioan last December, following a caesarean birth. Brooke, 28, who works alongside her husband for a Plaid Cymru Member of the Senedd at the Welsh Parliament, described the early days after Gwilym’s arrival as challenging. “During that first week he was very sleepy, didn’t wake very often and was very difficult to feed,” she recalled. Despite raising their concerns to several health professionals, they were reassured that Gwilym’s behavior was normal and that feeding him more frequently would help. However, later revelations from medical records confirmed that Gwilym had suffered a serious neonatal infection.
Now, ten months later, Brooke and Wil are still seeking clarity on the circumstances surrounding their baby’s death. They have expressed frustration over the lack of communication from health boards, despite a promised report due last June that has yet to be delivered. The couple is also awaiting a post-mortem examination and an inquest into Gwilym’s passing. The issue of timely post-mortem services remains a significant concern; last year, the Ministry of Justice acknowledged “significant challenges affecting post-mortem pathology services” and pledged to find lasting solutions to improve the situation. Brooke reflected on the toll this ongoing uncertainty takes, saying, “It’s really hard every day to live a normal life, having to wait for emails, phone calls, just any kind of information about why your baby died, while also grieving.”
Wales recorded the highest neonatal death rate in the UK in 2023 at 1.79 per 1,000 live births, according to the Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK (MBRRACE-UK). This rate improved in 2024, falling to 1.49 per 1,000 births. Georgia Stevenson, who leads the joint policy unit for Sands and Tommy’s, has called on the Welsh government to establish a target aimed at reducing stillbirths, neonatal deaths, and preterm births. Stevenson emphasized the importance of incorporating not only clinical data but also patient and staff experiences into these reviews, arguing that parents’ voices ought to be “placed on an equal footing” with clinical accounts. She noted, “Too often they are not able, or don’t feel able, to participate in that process or they just don’t feel like their views are being properly represented and that can be retraumatising for the parents who have already lost their baby.”
Supporting bereaved families has been at the heart of Ruth Mason’s work for the past three years as she facilitates a support group in Merthyr Tydfil. Having lost her own twins, George and Henry, to stillbirth in 2018, Mason understands the importance of compassionate care. She described encountering “desperate” parents who face a “lack of appropriate and compassionate bereavement care” and highlighted the inconsistency in services across different health boards. Mason pointed out that many families turn to her group simply because no other support options are available. She also stressed the additional trauma caused when families experience delays in receiving the results of investigations into their care. Reflecting on her own experience, Mason said the professional bereavement counselling she received “saved her life” and emphasized that “compassionate care makes such a difference to families.”
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
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