The Bereavement notes offer:

• An effective means of transfer of communication at significant times.

• Encourages openness and honesty from the health care team about the care that has been delivered.

• Space to document explanation of death and any comments prior to transfer to community care.

• Support a comprehensive risk assessment after delivery, to include relevant details from the antenatal, intrapartum and immediate postnatal period.

• Provides an effective screening and assessment tool to facilitate early identification of complications by providing prompts for health professionals on specific risk factors and engages mothers in their care.

• Contains specific explanatory notes for bereaved mothers on “what to expect” that is; up to date, evidenced based, answers common concerns, discusses options and offers practical advice at a difficult time.

• Parents page as recommended by the RCOG (2012) to give bereaved parents an opportunity to keep a written log of questions and comments to ask health care professions.

In addition to the hand held notes a summary card has been designed to be stored in the bereavement suite or hospital case records. It is aimed to be a single point of reference for information relevant to the case.

Exemplary record keeping is central to best practice and has been repeatedly emphasised in successive CEMACH reports and is essential for requirements from the NMC.