Miscarriage cradle to be rolled out across Scotland

A ‘miscarriage cradle’ is being introduced at three Scottish hospitals to help women experiencing miscarriage at home and in hospital.

The device was created by engineer Laura Corcoran after she lost her third baby.

Forced to devise her own way of collecting her baby’s remains, she came up with a solution to deal with the physical side so women could focus on their emotional loss.

Corcoran said: “My husband and I are both engineers, we went into problem-solving mode and we ended up using a kitchen sieve to collect baby over the toilet and then we used a Chinese takeout container to store baby in the fridge over the weekend, the hospital said I wasn’t allowed to bring them in out of hours and I miscarried on a Friday evening.”

Corcoran described the ordeal as ‘a really awful time’ and said she felt very vulnerable.

“It was completely undignified and it felt like I didn’t matter, my baby didn’t matter, there was nothing fit for purpose,” she added.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is the first UK health board to roll out its use.

The Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and Princess Royal Maternity in Glasgow will offer the device to support women through miscarriage at home and in hospital.

It is believed to be the first time a group of hospitals in the UK has committed to embedding this type of support across multiple sites.

Laura’s invention came out of one of the darkest moments of her life, as she began to miscarry for the third time.

She was bleeding but was told there was no space for her in hospital and that she would have to manage the process at home.

Laura told BBC Scotland News: “Within the NHS, you have to miscarry three times before you are eligible for testing to try to find some answers.”

She said she asked the early pregnancy unit how to collect the baby and they said ‘just to manage’.

During her recovery, Laura became angry that she had not been given the tools she needed to navigate the process.

But then she realised it was not just her, there was nothing fit for purpose for any woman dealing with baby loss.

“Using my background as an engineer, I started cutting up cardboard, taping bits together, sketching ideas.

“When I had something, I went to the 3D printers and printed the first prototype,” Corcoran said.

After patient and clinical feedback, she arrived at the device now in use.

The device is semi-circular and sits under the toilet seat. In the centre is a removable sieve. It filters out what is not needed and keeps the baby.

It then goes into a watertight storage container which can be taken to hospital for testing, or for a burial or cremation.

Corcoran said: “It allows women not to have to think of the practical aspects, to think about the emotional aspects, the grief. It gives them some space and time.

“The possibility that you might not be able to collect the baby and get access to testing adds weight to the problem.

“To be able to collect the baby respectfully and without cross-contamination means women can get access to testing, find potential causes and then prevent them going through it again in their next pregnancy.”

Corcoran said an independent economic report for NHS England showed that 50 per cent uptake would save the NHS in Scotland £11.2m, free up 12,000 gynaecology surgery slots and save 10,000 emergency department visits.