Northamptonshire Health Charity is supporting Northampton General Hospital by launching its Daisy Suite Appeal. The independent charity, which funds equipment and projects for local NHS hospitals and community services above and beyond what the NHS provides funding for, is fundraising to enhance the facilities that support families who experience the devastating loss of a baby.

With your donations and fundraising, you can help to create a dedicated space that offers privacy, within the maternity area but away from the day unit and the wards. This new space will support the work of the Bereavement Midwives in follow-up appointments with families, by providing an improved area to give the practical and emotional support needed in the weeks and months following the loss of a baby.

Northampton General Hospital Bereavement Midwives, Rachel and Rachael said, ““Each year we care for over 100 families who suffer the heartbreak of losing their baby. We provide a safe space that feels protected for delivery and care whilst in hospital. Having a dedicated space to continue this protection for follow-up care for families, will further enhance the support we provide and make such a difference to these families, at what is a very distressing time.”

The Bereavement Midwives are working closely with the leadership team at Northampton General on their vision. With the help of Northamptonshire Health Charity and your fundraising support, they will be able to create a compassionate, much-needed space for bereaved parents and their families.

Alison McCulloch, Head of Fundraising said, “At present, bereaved parents often return to the maternity day unit and wards for follow-up appointments and aftercare, a place where they were first supported following the distressing, heart-breaking news about their baby. You can perhaps imagine how upsetting this can be, adding to the overwhelming sense of sadness and loss families are feeling. With your donations and fundraising to our Daisy Suite Appeal, you can help us make these changes.

We thank everyone who has already supported the bereavement midwives with donations to the bereavement suite, previously called Forget Me Not Appeal. All donations made to the Forget Me Not Appeal will benefit the Daisy Suite Appeal. We ask that you please get involved and make a donation to help really make a difference.”

The bereavement midwifery team has chosen the daisy flower as the name for the suite as the daisy symbolizes innocence and purity. According to an old Celtic legend, whenever an infant died, God sprinkled daisies over the earth as a symbol of remembrance of parents’ babies. On a spiritual level, daisies and aster flowers represent spiritual faith and the eternal life of the soul.

One of the charity’s major fundraisers for the Daisy Suite Appeal is a local family who set up Team Daisy in memory of their daughter Daisy Chalmers to offer support to other families in times of need. Daisy’s family have been fundraising and raising awareness about Baby Loss for four years since the loss of Daisy. They are currently involved in a number of challenges and events to support this appeal, including putting a team in the Isle of White Ultramarathon challenge in 2023. Could you take on a challenge or hold an event to raise money for the appeal?

Find out how you can get involved with the Daisy Suite Appeal and make a difference for bereaved parents and their families via the charity’s website https://northamptonshirehealthcharity.co.uk/appeals/daisy-suite-appeal-ngh/