Health and Social Care Committee

Attitudes towards stillbirths "need to change", according to Isobel Martin, founder of the Holly Martin Stillbirth Research Fund.

The comments was made during the Health and Social Care Committee's one-day inquiry into stillbirths in Wales on 28 June 2012.

The research fund, which was founded in 2010, is named after the Ms Martin's daughter, who was stillborn in 1985.

During the meeting Ms Martin also stated that stillbirths had been "a taboo subject for too long".

She told AM's that giving birth to a stillborn baby is the "most horrendous feeling anyone could ever suffer".

According to Ms Martin stillbirth statistics in the UK have seen little change since her personal experience.

She described this fact as "absolutely shocking" and explained the "fact that I'm sitting here 27 years later shows that the feelings don't go away".

Ms Martin told the committee: "I don't want any one else to go through what I've gone through unnecessarily".

Amongst other individuals giving evidence were representatives from the Royal College of Midwives and from Sands.

According to the stillbirth and neonatal death charity, during 2010 there were 190 stillbirths, and one baby in every 200 is stillborn in Wales.

Sands representative Janet Scott agreed with Ms Martin's statement, saying "it is a taboo subject and that might be why so little has been done to tackle the problem".

Improving the training of medical staff, especially midwifes, on spotting potential symptoms of the risk of a stillbirth and telling pregnant women what to look out for was consistently raised by those giving evidence.

It was also stated that midwives should learn how to deal with bereaved parents during the course of their training.