WOMEN who have experienced the trauma of stillbirth have welcomed new plans for independent investigations into the cause of deaths.

Yesterday Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced the strategy to reduce the number of babies stillborn or with life-changing injuries.

Families will be offered an independent investigation to find out what went wrong and why.

Debbie Horrocks, aged 36, is a befriender at the Bolton branch of SANDS, a stillbirth and neonatal charity.

The mum-of-three from Westhoughton went through a stillbirth in October, 2015 when she was 32 weeks pregnant with her son Oscar.

She said: “It’s about time they are doing something.

“Stillbirths happen far too often and there has to be a reason.

“When I had Oscar there was no reason why it happen. I already had two healthy children and have had a little girl since then.

“Since the group has been set up in Bolton I have met so many people who have been through this but it not talked about enough. It is a very traumatic experience, a parent’s worst nightmare, so I’m happy that something is finally been done about it.”

Under the plans, hundreds of stillbirth, early neonatal death and severe brain injury cases will be referred to the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch, the new NHS investigator.

Last year there were 3,112 stillbirths recorded in England and Wales out of nearly 700,000 births. In the past 12 months there were 28 cases at the Royal Bolton Hospital where a baby was stillborn and ten that suffered brain damage out of 5,809 births.

Lois Turner from Great Lever was 15 years old when her daughter was stillborn.

Now a mum to two boys, the 26-year-old wishes her daughter’s stillbirth had been investigated. She explained: “I found out she had died two before I gave birth to her.

“I was something I was worried about when I got pregnant with my eldest boy. I was so scared it would happen again.”

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Sue Ainsworth, head of midwifery at the Princess Anne Maternity Unit, Royal Bolton Hospital, said they welcomed the new strategy for offering an independent view, helping maternity units share learning and reassuring parents.

She added: “It’s a tragedy whenever a baby is stillborn or injured, whatever the circumstances.

“Our staff work hard to prevent this from happening, but if something does go wrong we carry out an investigation to see if there were any mistakes that could have been avoided and to implement any lessons learned. The report is shared with the family.

“We fully support measures that will reduce the number of these heartbreaking cases of stillborn or injured babies which sadly happen across the country.”