New stillbirth prevention and bereavement care standard

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care is seeking feedback on the draft Stillbirth Clinical Care Standard from clinicians, health services, consumers and anyone with an interest in maternity care, stillbirth or bereavement care.

Stillbirth is the most common form of infant death in Australia, with six babies stillborn every day. The experience has a profound and long-lasting impact on parents, families and often their care providers.

The draft standard describes the care that women who are pregnant, or planning a pregnancy, should expect to receive to help reduce their risk of experiencing a stillbirth. It also aims to support best practice in bereavement care for parents (and their support people) who have experienced any form of perinatal loss.

The standard particularly relates to the care provided by clinicians working in general practice, midwifery, nursing, obstetrics, sonography, radiology, perinatal pathology and bereavement care.

This public consultation will be open until midnight, Monday, 14 March 2022.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/ambrozinio