The Centre of Research Excellence in Stillbirth (Stillbirth CRE) and Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand (PSANZ) are pleased to publish the 2024 update of the Care Around Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Clinical Practice Guideline. This guideline represents our shared vision to improve care for parents and families/whānau who experience the tragedy of stillbirth or neonatal death.

The first edition of the guideline was released in 2008 and has been updated four times. As in previous editions, this edition incorporates the latest evidence for perinatal loss care, investigations to understand why a baby died, and audit and classification processes to inform prevention and improve future care for bereaved families/whānau.

In this edition, a greater focus has been placed on culturally responsive and safe care practices and the role of organisations in enabling the provision of best practice care. We also incorporate two new sections focused on perinatal palliative care and care in subsequent pregnancies.

While early pregnancy loss (before 20 weeks’ gestation) was not included in the scope of the guideline, it is important to acknowledge that respectful supportive care for families/whānau should be the same after any pregnancy loss and that this care should extend into a subsequent pregnancy. We hope to expand the guideline in the next update to specifically address the needs of families/whānau experiencing early pregnancy loss.

We acknowledge the enduring loss experienced by parents and families/whānau when the anticipated joy of bringing a baby home turns to tragedy through pregnancy loss at any gestation.

We acknowledge and thank the Guideline Development Committee and Expert Working Groups for their time and dedication, particularly the Technical Working Group who prepared this edition.

Prof Vicki Flenady
Prof Adrienne Gordon
Co-Chairs Guideline Development Committee
Stillbirth CRE and PSANZ

Endorsing organisations

The 2024 edition of the Care Around Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Clinical Practice Guideline is endorsed by the following organisations.

Date of publication and Authorship

This edition of the guideline was published in 2024 and updates and expands previous editions.¹ This guideline was developed by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Centre of Research Excellence in Stillbirth (Stillbirth CRE) in partnership with the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand (PSANZ).

Copyright statement

Refer to the Stillbirth CRE copyright statement.

Contact

Suggestions and requests for further information or for permission to reproduce material in the text can be sent to:

Centre of Research Excellence in Stillbirth
Mater Research Institute—The University of Queensland
Level 3, Aubigny Place
South Brisbane Qld 4101 Australia
T: +61 7 3163 6326
E: stillbirthcre@mater.uq.edu.au

Suggested citation

Centre of Research Excellence in Stillbirth & Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand (2024). Care Around Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Clinical Practice Guideline. https://learn.stillbirthcre.org.au/

Funding

The Stillbirth CRE acknowledges the funding provided by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care for the development of this guideline edition.

Expiry of the guideline

The Stillbirth CRE will monitor new publications and reports that may be relevant to the guideline. In addition, evidence will be reviewed three years after publication to evaluate whether all or part of the guideline should be updated. Due to the number of topics in this guideline, a selective updating approach (based on a living guideline process) may be taken by the Guideline Development Committee to ensure incorporation of new evidence, rapid update of some recommendations, and identification of additional topics for future consideration.

Publication Approval

The guideline recommendations were approved by the Chief Executive Officer of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) on 8 December 2023 under section 14A of the National Health and Medical Research Council Act 1992.  In approving the guideline recommendations, NHMRC considers that they meet the NHMRC standard for clinical practice guidelines. This approval is valid for a period of five years.

NHMRC is satisfied that the guideline recommendations are systematically derived, based on the identification and synthesis of the best available scientific evidence, and developed for health professionals practising in an Australian health care setting.

This publication reflects the views of the authors and not necessarily the views of the Australian Government.