Saving babies' lives.
Supporting bereaved families.
Sands Strategy 2022-2025
Sands is here to support anyone affected by pregnancy loss and the death of a baby. Every day, we work to improve the care and support that bereaved parents receive – and help create a world where fewer babies die.
Bereaved families are at the heart of our work. We are here to make sure parents’ voices are heard and drive change.
This strategy sets out the changes we want to make by 2025 – and how we plan to achieve them.
Our new strategy is ambitious.
But with your support, we can make it a reality.
A big thank you
This strategy was created with the incredible input of many people with different backgrounds and experiences, who have been touched by baby loss in many different ways – as a parent, friend, colleague, health care professional, researcher, staff member, or volunteer.
We are so thankful to everyone in helping us to shape this ambition.
Values
Our values underpin everything we do and set out to achieve.
They are the golden thread that runs through our strategy:
We are compassionate, collaborative, evidence based and inclusive.
We commit to working as one organisation; learning from experience and striving for continual improvement through innovation.
We will be open and honest; working with respect and integrity, showing empathy, and being inclusive in everything we do.
What we want
At Sands, we have two core aims:
Save babies' lives
Ensure anyone affected by the death of a baby receives the care and support they need
Our strategic goals
By 2025, we want
stillbirths and neonatal deaths reduced by 50% in the UK.
The government and NHS have been working towards halving rates since 2015.
By 2025, we want
better care for families.
With the National Bereavement Care Pathway embedded across England and Scotland, and new Bereavement Care Pathways introduced in Wales and Northern Ireland.
By 2025, we want
Sands supporting more bereaved parents and families.
Helping them get the support that they need.
By 2025, we want
everyone in the UK to better understand:
The extent of baby loss
Who we are
What we offer
How will we get there
To achieve these strategic goals by 2025, we will need to do four things:
Build our community
We are the UK’s leading bereavement support charity for anyone affected by pregnancy loss or the death of a baby. From individual families accessing our support to organisations turning to us for information and advice, we need everyone to know: Sands is here for you.
We will do this by…
Raising awareness of our cause and work
Each life lost is one tragedy too many. Everyone across the UK needs to know how common pregnancy loss and baby death is. The impact is immeasurable – and, the chances are, that everyone knows someone who has been affected. Yet we’re still not talking about it. As the voice of bereaved families, we will help break the silence.
Welcoming everyone who needs our support
Whether families are coping with pregnancy loss or baby death – we will make sure everyone feels welcome, valued and equal.
Proactively bringing people to Sands
We will reach out to all bereaved parents and families to offer support; work with local communities and special interest groups; create open spaces to invite families in.
Putting people’s needs first
People are at the heart of everything we do; from the families we support to the volunteers and supporters we depend on...
Save babies' lives and tackle inequality
We are already well known for our bereavement support and our commitment to excellent care, now we will highlight what we are doing to reduce perinatal mortality. We also need to raise awareness of the shocking connection between someone’s racial and socioeconomic background and the likelihood of their baby dying.
We will do this by…
Collaborating and learning
We will work with others to understand why babies die and why we see such drastic inequality; ensuring bereaved parents inform and shape research. It is time to give perinatal mortality research the profile and funding it deserves.
Understanding why…
Improving safety in pregnancy, birth and the neonatal period
We have so many opportunities to raise awareness and further knowledge. We can:
- Campaign to drive improvements and develop policy solutions; working to keep safer care on national agendas and hold governments to account
- Develop and implement systems and cultures to support safer care
- Create research-based training and learning resources for clinicians
- Highlight safer and healthier pregnancy issues
- Educate parents and pregnant people on safer pregnancy and maternity care
Celebrating our work to save babies’ lives
We will invest resources, capacity and time to help save more lives. And we will continue to share the stories of bereaved parents.
Campaigning and advocating
We need to work to secure improvements within our health system and to change attitudes in society. We will amplify the voices of bereaved parents from groups who have higher risk factors. They need to be listened to – and their care improved.
Inequalities in Perinatal outcomes
Black and Black British babies are more than 2x as likely to be stillborn as White babies
Asian and Asian British babies are 60% more likely to be stillborn
Babies whose mothers live in the most deprived areas are 2x more likely to be stillborn than babies born to mothers in the least deprived areas
Source: MBRRACE-UK, Perinatal Mortality Surveillance Report 2019
Improve bereavement care and support
We need to push for excellence in the support we give as a charity, and set the standard for the care provided by other services in the sector.
We will do this by…
Supporting families
Working with individuals, we will meet the needs of all those who reach out to us for support, however they get in touch. We will be proactive, using an evidence-based and quality-assured approach to ensure the highest quality care and support possible.
Leading the way with our bereavement support models
At a national level, we will continue to lead the way through our models of bereavement support; to tailor our approach around every person’s need, and to help families to focus on growing around grief.
Sands services we will develop:
- Counselling to enhance bereavement support
- Evidence-based, quality assured training and resources for all audiences
Professional services we will support:
- Uptake of the National Bereavement Care Pathway – embedding and monitoring in all Trusts and Health Boards
- Bereavement care training and resources for healthcare professionals
Issues we will campaign on:
- Bereavement care within the workplace – building an expectation of excellent support among employers
- Statutory entitlement – reflecting the needs of bereaved parents
- The need for excellent care – rallying volunteers and supporters to call for change
Everyone can make a difference. We will start conversations that highlight the importance of everyone feeling able to offer care and support to bereaved families.
Grow sustainably as a charity
We are determined to make the greatest possible difference. We will do this by growing our community of supporters and partners who will help us meet the challenge – working effectively and sustainably.
We will do this by…
Continuing as the UK’s leading baby loss charity
Our work and brand need to be synonymous with excellence. We will be the go-to charity for excellent bereavement care and support, and will lead the way in saving babies’ lives.
Providing thought leadership
We know how the conversation around pregnancy loss and baby death needs to change. It is our responsibility to speak up and inspire innovative action to create change across the UK.
Collaborating with key players
We will develop strong relationships with groups working in perinatal mortality.
Capturing timely opportunities
We will use every opportunity to raise awareness. Baby Loss Awareness Week will become the biggest movement in driving improvements in bereavement care, support and saving lives.
Growing income sustainably
We will grow our community of supporters across the UK, providing them with a world class supporter experience and connecting them to the impact they want to make.
Thank you for being part of our story
Together we know we can make a difference.
It is incredible how much progress we've made together already, but there is still much more to do.
There are so many ways to continue supporting Sands in our ambitions.
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become a reality.
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If you need support:
Visit our website sands.org.uk
Call our helpline on 0808 164 3332
Email Helpline@Sands.org.uk
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