From BBC Health and on BBC Breakfast News today:

Early care scheme could prevent thousands of miscarriages a year – In the Women’s Health Strategy announcement last week, the government said it was considering “wider adoption” across the NHS in England. Baroness Merron, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Care said: “This will be carefully considered as part of our ongoing work to make sure women get the high-quality, compassionate NHS care they deserve.”

NHS Scotland is already making improvements in miscarriage care, including not waiting until a third miscarriage and providing separate rooms in maternity units for women who are going through pregnancy loss. Northern Ireland and Wales currently follow the same guidelines as England. Researchers on the Birmingham team say they are “hopeful” their model will bring about change.

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62r8lzgnk2o

NHS England: Aftercare is more reactive and threshold-based — structured investigations and specialist support usually start after 3 miscarriages. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/miscarriage/

NHS Scotland: Uses a “graded care” model — support and advice begin after the first miscarriage, with increasing input if losses recur. https://www.gov.scot/publications/delivery-framework-miscarriage-care-scotland/pages/10/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

While no miscarriage rates are available, stillbirth rates are. The most recent peer-reviewed comparison, MBRRACE-UK perinatal mortality surveillance UK perinatal deaths of babies born in 2023 State of the nation report found:

Compared with rates in 2022, stillbirth rates per 1,000 total births in 2023 were lower across the UK: 3.22 (UK); 3.27 (England); 2.95 (Scotland); 3.32 (Wales); and 2.51 (Northern Ireland). https://timms.le.ac.uk/mbrrace-uk-perinatal-mortality/surveillance/

Remember that just over 0.3% is of thousands of births and means hundreds saved in Scotland every year.

There are early signs that after nearly two years of Labour government, continuing austerity is pushing the rate up across in England. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths/bulletins/birthsummarytablesenglandandwales/2024?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Why might Scotland’s rate be lower? There’s no single confirmed cause, but likely contributors include:

Continuity of care models (more common in Scotland) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39892152/

Earlier intervention pathways (also seen in miscarriage care, see above report)

The graded model of miscarriage care proposed by Tommy’s is already available in Scotland and the charity is calling for its implementation across the whole of the UK.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/apr/29/miscarriages-graded-specialised-care-uk-study?utm_source=chatgpt.com