NHS England has introduced up to 10 days of additional paid leave for employees who suffer a miscarriage, as part of new guidance issued to hospitals.
Women who experience a miscarriage in the first 24 weeks of pregnancy will be offered up to ten days of paid leave and their partners will be able to take up to five. Those who experience a loss after six months of pregnancy will remain eligible for paid maternity leave.
The initiative was first trialled at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Trust. A survey found that staff at the trust were twice as likely to stay with their employer as a result of the policy.
In addition, NHS England has created the national pregnancy and baby loss people policy framework, which is formal guidance for local services to follow if any of their staff is affected.
The guidance details that employees should be given paid time off to attend appointments for medical examinations, scans and tests, as well as mental health-related interventions. Staff who return from work after a pregnancy loss will be offered occupational health support, referrals to specialist services at their trust or specialist miscarriage and baby loss charities and organisations.
Dr Navina Evans, chief workforce, training and education officer at NHS England, said: “Baby loss is an extremely traumatic experience that hundreds of NHS staff experience each year, and it is right they are treated with the utmost care and compassion when going through such an upsetting experience.
“We know the significance of getting support right in the very first instance for our staff, which is why we are providing paid leave so parents can take time out to process this traumatic experience as well as paid time to attend appointments. I hope that this formal guidance will see other sectors in the UK adopt such supportive approaches to miscarriage in their own organisations.”
Raffaela Goodby, chief people officer at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Trust, added: “I hope this national policy to support mothers and parents with love and compassion at a terrible time in their employment is welcomed across the NHS and drives positive change across the UK. Structured support at work for people experiencing miscarriage can have a lifelong impact on the people involved.”