Miscarriage Care and Facilities in Scotland: Scoping Report NHS Western Isles

Staff guidance, skills, and training

Written clinical guidance

In NHS Western Isles, Western Isles Hospital and Barra Community Hospital reported that they have written clinical guidance for clinical staff on the appropriate treatment and care for miscarriage at all gestations. Uist and Barra Hospital noted that written clinical guidance for clinical staff is available for miscarriage in the first trimester. There is agreement across all three sites that all necessary staff that require access to this clinical guidance have access to it and that this guidance is followed for women experiencing miscarriage (Table 19).

The recommendations from the Lancet on skills and training for miscarriage care are shown in Table 20 below.

There are staff with additional training to deal with baby loss, comprehensive miscarriage care, and recurrent miscarriage care at Western Isles Hospital. Specialist training for nurses and midwives for recurrent miscarriage care is planned within the next 3 years. Uist and Barra Hospital and Barra Community Hospital referred women to Western Isles Hospital for these services (Table 20).