The Tommy's National Rainbow Clinic Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Tommy's National Rainbow Clinic Study
IRAS ID
249991
Contact name
Alex Heazell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University Of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
The death of a baby before or shortly after birth affects approximately 1 in every 250 pregnancies in the UK meaning that over 4,000 parents experience the death of a baby each year in the UK. The majority of women who have experienced the loss of a baby will have another pregnancy, usually within a year.
Our analysis of 14 studies concluded that parents need specialist support from doctors and midwives in a future pregnancy to reduce the risk of pregnancy complications and to provide the care and support they need. The Rainbow Clinic model aims to provide specialist care and support to families who have experienced the death of a baby during pregnancy or shortly afterwards. Rainbow Clinic was initially established in St Mary’s Hospital, Manchester in 2013. We are now working to establish Rainbow Clinics in other maternity units throughout the UK. As this is a new clinical service we would like to evaluate the care provided in the Rainbow clinics across the United Kingdom, to look at women’s experiences of care, their levels of anxiety and depression, to identify where care can be improved and the pregnancy outcomes of women attending Rainbow Clinic.
This evaluation needs information about pregnancy outcomes and women’s experiences. Participation in this research study will allow us to collect and aggregate this information. We will ask all women attending participating Rainbow Clinics to complete a short questionnaire early in their pregnancy and again at the end. We will collect information about the outcome of their pregnancy. This research is being funded by Tommy's.REC name
South Central - Hampshire B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/SC/0180
Date of REC Opinion
23 Jun 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion