Hospital Support

Our goal is to support the midwives and staff via training to provide the most compassionate and supportive environment at such a difficult time.

Hospital Support

Our goal is to support the midwives and staff via training and through regular meetings we can review care, feedback family’s experiences to the hospital to strive to provide the most compassionate and supportive environment at such a difficult time.

We work closely with staff at St John’s, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and Borders General Hospital. Our CEO, Nicola established a bereavement working group within NHS Lothian in 2011 at the same time as establishing a regular West Lothian support group. This was the ideal time to feedback parents’ experiences and work with professionals to improve on any areas of care.  One of the areas we improved on was working closely with medical photography to make sure families are offered the choice of professional pictures and given a lovely photograph album with their precious baby’s photos and a disc to print off for family and friends.

Email info@heldinourhearts.org.uk
Call Us On 0131 622 6263

“For the staff at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh the support offered by Held In Our Hearts to women and their families is second to none. The Held In Our Hearts Team have taken the time to come into the hospital to get to know the maternity team, and have facilitated education sessions to raise awareness of their services and role in the care of bereaved families. The introduction of their most beautiful ‘heart in their hand’ keyring has meant that staff have been able to support families in obtaining precious memorable photographs of their babies. The support to families has also been improved under the leadership of Chief Executive Nicola Welsh, and they have encouraged staff to refer families as soon as possible to themselves making that first initial contact with the charity much more seamless and early support easily accessible. The staff at the Royal Infirmary very much appreciate the support that Held In Our Hearts offer and as a mark of this appreciation we formed a fundraising team who took part in the Edinburgh Marathon Festival in May 2018.” Christina Marshall, midwife at Royal Infirmary Edinburgh

We are also proud to have supplied many items for the family room including TV, bedding, blankets, hairdryers, straighteners, Bluetooth speakers, Dyson fans, ink and printers for medical photography to give some comfort and assist the family at this sad time.

We are also committed to making sure all babies, at any gestation, have beautiful clothes and a lovely knitted moses basket to rest in.  We have many local families who knit for Held In Our Hearts so we make sure the babies have a dignified resting place.  Please contact us if you would like a pattern to knit a gown or moses basket such as the ones pictured.

We were proud to fundraise for a cold cot at St John’s which means that a family may have the chance to keep their baby with them in the room for longer periods of time to create memories and spend as long as they want with their little one. We have also just recently donated a cuddle cot and Moses basket to the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh for their family rooms.

This also allows time for siblings or other family members to visit.