Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the National Bereavement Care Pathway on levels of consistent, individualised and sensitive care for fathers and partners.

The National Bereavement Care Pathway sets standards and guidance aimed at ensuring all bereaved parents, including fathers and partners, receive consistent, individualised, and sensitive care. NHS England’s Medium Term Planning Framework sets an expectation that all National Health Service trusts implement the pathway for stillbirth and neonatal death.

The Department’s engagement with bereaved fathers and other families helps ensure that their experiences inform work to improve bereavement care and support. The National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce is also supported by family expert reference groups, including people with experience of bereavement, whose chairs represent members’ views and priorities on the taskforce. Ministers and officials will continue to engage with bereaved families, including fathers and partners, as this work develops.