News & opinion


Featured chart: What does the Perinatal Mortality Review Tool tell us about preventable neonatal deaths?

Featured chart: What does the Perinatal Mortality Review Tool tell us about preventable neonatal deaths?

Our fourth featured chart takes a closer look at the insights on our data hub around PMRT data …
Joint Policy Unit response to latest ONS data on stillbirths and neonatal deaths in England and Wales 2024

Joint Policy Unit response to latest ONS data on stillbirths and neonatal deaths in England and Wales 2024

Data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) this week emphasises the urgent need for system-level changes in England and Wales to save more babies’ lives and tackle inequalities in pregnancy and baby loss …
Commitments in the renewed Women’s Health Strategy must be embedded in system-level changes

Commitments in the renewed Women’s Health Strategy must be embedded in system-level changes

In April, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) published a refreshed Women’s Health Strategy which contained commitments to listen to women*, tackle inequalities in health outcomes and improve performance in services that matter most to women, including enhancing miscarriage support. While individual commitments are welcome, the investigation and taskforce must consider how they are embedded in system-level changes.   …
Featured chart: How many miscarriages took place in England in 2024-25?

Featured chart: How many miscarriages took place in England in 2024-25?

Our third featured chart takes a closer look at the insights on our data hub around miscarriage estimates …
Joint Policy Unit responds to Baroness Amos’s interim report into maternity and neonatal services

Joint Policy Unit responds to Baroness Amos’s interim report into maternity and neonatal services

The interim report, published by the Independent Investigation into Maternity and Neonatal Services in England, highlights systemic issues facing services. While this systemic focus is welcome, the final report must be solution-focused, including defining what ‘safe care’ looks like and how this can be delivered …
Sands and Tommy's appoint Georgia Stevenson as Head of our Joint Policy Unit.

Sands and Tommy’s appoint Georgia Stevenson as Head of our Joint Policy Unit.

We’re pleased to announce that Georgia Stevenson has been appointed as Head of the Sands & Tommy’s Joint Policy Unit …
Featured Chart: Can we reduce rates of preterm birth?

Featured Chart: Can we reduce rates of preterm birth?

Our second featured chart takes a closer look at the insights on our data hub around preterm births …
Featured Chart: What’s happening with midwife numbers in England?

Featured Chart: What’s happening with midwife numbers in England?

The first featured chart in this series looks at what is happening with midwife numbers in England …
An image of a newborn baby in hospital

Clarity is needed to support improvements in the safety of maternity and neonatal services

While there is widespread agreement on the need for change to improve the safety of maternity and neonatal services. It is not clear that there is agreement on what that change looks like. 
In the recent announcement of an investigation into maternity and neonatal services in England, there was recognition that reviews and reports into the safety of maternity services over the past decade or more haven’t led to the improvement needed. This is despite different reviews consistently identifying similar themes, …
A call for change - A new national approach is needed to improve the safety of maternity and neonatal services

A call for change – A new national approach is needed to improve the safety of maternity and neonatal services

Too many women, babies and families are being let down”.  These are the words of the Independent investigation of the NHS in England, published by Lord Darzi in September 2024. But they could have been written at any point in the last decade or more. Back in 2016 the Department of Health’s Safer Maternity Care action plan declared that  “now is the time for all those caring for and supporting new and expectant mothers and their babies to come together …