A CAMPAIGNING MP who used a tragedy to help others has been shortlisted for an award.

Colchester MP Will Quince has been shortlisted for a Butterfly Award along with MP Antoinette Sandbach for their work in establishing and co-chairing the Baby Loss All Party Parliamentary Group.

The annual Butterfly Awards aim to recognise the courage of parents who have experienced the loss of a baby as well as celebrating some of the work done by the people and organisations which provide support.

Mr Quince and his wife, Elinor, suffered the loss of their son, Robert, who had Edward’s Syndrome and was stillborn in 2014. In 2009, Ms Sandbach went through the experience of losing her five-day-old son Sam to sudden infant death syndrome.

In 2015, Mr Quince applied for an adjournment debate on bereavement care in maternity units in the House of Commons.

After this was officially publicised Ms Sandbach approached him and told him of her own experience.

They decided to share the debate which was the first time baby loss had been so openly discussed in Parliament, in particular from the perspective of both a mother and a father.

Following the debate they were inundated with messages from members of the public and fellow MPs sharing their own experiences along with journalists keen to help publicise the issues raised.

The MPs realised there was a taboo to be broken and they had to play their part in breaking the silence.

They also sat down with the then Care Quality Minister Ben Gummer and held conversations with national baby loss charities.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Baby Loss was set up with the aim of reducing baby loss and to ensure world class bereavement care was established in all UK hospitals for those that lose a baby.

Mr Quince said: “It is a real honour to have been nominated for this award.

“Although Antoinette and I do not do this work for awards or recognition, it is heart-warming that people recognise its importance.

“It would, of course, be fantastic to win but know I speak for both of us when I say the only prize we are aiming for is a reduction in stillbirth and neo-natal death and improved bereavement care in our hospitals.”

The APPG has kept the pressure on the Government to put stillbirth and neo-natal death high on the health agenda and kept the Government focussed on the commitment to a reduction in stillbirth of 20% by 2020 and 50% by 2030. The APPG has campaigned for bereavement suites in ever hospital, more bereavement midwives, better education for professionals and parents, improving maternity care, smoking cessation support and increased fetal monitoring.

In 2016 the APPG organised the first ever Baby Loss Awareness Week event in Parliament with a ground breaking three hour debate on baby loss in the House of Commons Chamber and achieving national media coverage for the issue. Antoinette and Will also took part in a Twitter debate which reached over 16 million accounts across the world - well and truly breaking the silence on baby loss. More recently, the APPG has been working closely with charities and other interested parties on the new Bereavement Care Pathway and the Neonatal Transformation Review.

Complementing the work of the APPG, Will has campaigned for Statutory Parental Bereavement Leave which would enshrine in law paid leave for parents who sadly lose a child, and introduced a Bill to enable this in the previous Parliament. The Bill now has cross-party support along with the support of the Government and looks set to become law within this Parliament.

As a result of the lobbying Antoinette has done, Alder Hey Children’s Charity was awarded £1.4m funding in order to build a new, bespoke Child Bereavement Centre. This will help the centre further provide those services needed to bereaved families who have tragically suffered the loss of a child. During this Parliament, Antoinette will be introducing a 10-minute rule motion to outlaw the dangerous use of home dopplers.

The awards ceremony is on 14th October 2017.