Bereaved parents have led a fundraising drive to create new maternity unit family rooms to help people coping with the death of a baby.
Former Celtic and Scotland player Kris Commons and partner Lisa Hague opened the facility at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley as they campaign to increase support for parents after their daughter was stillborn in 2008.
The family and quiet rooms have been designed to provide an area for parents who are experiencing bereavement to stay from induction to delivery and for postnatal care.
Families can use the area to spend time with their baby or to return to the hospital to see their child’s name in the book of remembrance.
Local families affected by baby death raised over £30,000 to support the SiMBA charity project.
“Working with a strong team is vital to the success of any project, every member of the team pulled together knowing how vitally important rooms such as these can be.
“The difference that family rooms can make to a parents experience within the hospital is incredible, allowing precious time together that isn’t rushed.
“These rooms at the Royal Alexandra Hospital have been created with passion, using the experiences and suggestions from bereaved families and staff and I am so very proud to be able to unveil them to some of the families who have fund raised so hard to support this project today.”
The Lola Commons Fund for SiMBA was founded in 2013 to support bereaved families across the country with family rooms and is supporting the refurbishment of facilities in Glasgow, Edinburgh and the Borders.
Ms Hague, who has spoken about her experience in a BBC documentary, said: “These rooms have exceeded my expectations, Kris and I have been involved from the beginning so we shouldn’t have been surprised but I can only say they are breath taking, so tranquil.
“When we were speaking to other members of hospital staff they were telling us how proud they were of the rooms and that made us feel incredibly proud.”
The Take That singer said he hopes writing about the death of his daughter will help other people going through the same heartache.
Barlow and his wife Dawn lost Poppy when she was stillborn at full term days before he was due to perform at the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics.
He said: “The doctor had given her a scan and said he had the most terrible news. I just went into this flight-or-fight mode.
“We went in the following night and it was a very strange day and the doctor had told me that you get to hold the baby.
“I was just dreading this thing happening and when she did give birth, it was amazing. We had the most incredible hour with our daughter.
“It was like a light coming into the room.”
Evelyn Frame, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s head of midwifery, said: “This is such a tragic time for these families, so anything we can do to make things a little easier for them is to be welcomed.
“We are very grateful for the support of SiMBA and all those who have fundraised to make this room possible. We hope the new family room brings some comfort to women and their families at a very difficult time in their lives and allows them to create some lasting memories.”
