A LABOUR MP heard the heartbreaking news she had miscarried her child alone because of draconian rules banning partners of pregnant women in hospitals.
Olivia Blake revealed yesterday she had lost her baby without her husband by her side as she called for a change to the coronavirus rules in medical wards.
The MP for Sheffield Hallam told MPs yesterday she was “unable to have a hug or someone to hold my hand” as she was told she had lost her baby in August.
In an emotional speech Ms Blake said: “Little did I know that I would be experiencing a miscarriage in August, and have to go into A&E my partner having to wait in the carpark, getting confused and muddled about my dates.
“Being unable to have a hug, someone to hold my hand, or support to hear the news that I was having a miscarriage.
“It was a very very difficult situation, and one I want no one else to have to go through.”
The MP struggled through tears as she bravely shared about how having to hear the bad news was traumatic enough, but having to repeat it to her husband was “another level of difficult”.
Some hospitals do allow partners to come into hospitals but Ms Blake warned it was a “postcode lottery” depending on their NHS Trust.
She demanded the rules be fixed to let partners come into hospitals across the country.
Ms Blake said: “This should not be down to postcode, everyone going through this should have the right to be treated with compassion and dignity and that compassion should extend into providing even more support in terms of bereavement and counselling at this time.
“The support that parents or siblings would usually provide to their families is also very difficult. I have not been able to hug my mum since August and it is very, very hard.”
PRIMAL GRIEF
Tory MP Cherilyn Mackrory spearheaded the debate on the impact of coronavirus on baby loss.
Ms Mackrory, the MP for Truro and Falmouth, talked about her own “primal” griefing of losing her baby at the beginning of last year.
The MP for Truro and Falmouth said she clung onto her husband during an induced stillbirth the next day.
But she warned there was “too much variation between hospitals” which allow partners into hospital appointments and births, meaning women suffering similar experience don’t have the support they need.
Ms Mackrory said: “From start to finish, I simply could not have got through that horrendous weekend without my husband at my side and yet we have been expecting women to do this since Covid hit our shores,” she said.
And former health secretary Jeremy Hunt said mass testing should be deployed to let partners come into hospitals.
The Government has started a huge effort to test everyone in Liverpool and even the army has joined in to help.
Mr Hunt said: “If we can test all the people in Liverpool then surely it should be possible to test people so they can be with their partners at those crucial moments of pregnancy.”
Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.hellofaread.com/politics/second-lockdown-everything-you-can-face-a-fine-for-as-england-shuts-down-again/
