SNP MSP David Linden not named on baby loss certificate as partner Labour MP Cat Smith lives in England

An MP who suffered a miscarriage earlier this year has called for the NHS to extend the rules around baby loss certificates in England after her partner was not allowed to be named on theirs.

Cat Smith said her partner, Scottish National Party MSP David Linden (Glasgow Baillieston and Shettleston), was not allowed to be named on the baby loss certificate they were given after she miscarried in June, because they live in separate parts of the UK.

Labour MP Smith (Lancaster and Wyre) said that because she lives in England, the system does not match up with Linden, who lives in Scotland. Therefore, when they got their certificate, the “father” section was left blank.

The certificates were launched in England in 2024. Parents whose babies die before 24 weeks of pregnancy are eligible to apply for them. People can apply even if their miscarriage or baby loss took place years ago.

They were extended to Northern Ireland this year. Despite pledges in the Senedd, they have not been launched in Wales. Scottish parents who have gone through miscarriages can get a memorial book of pregnancy and baby loss.

During a debate on baby loss in the House of Commons on Monday night, Smith said she had been invited to the Royal Lancastrian Infirmary to the bereavement suite in the maternity unit earlier this year, however, she did not attend “because she never wanted to see the inside of it”.

She continued: “Unfortunately, in June this year, I did get to see the inside. But not as an MP there with the ribbon being cut, it was as a grieving parent.

“The thing about miscarriages is that when you leave the hospital, you don’t have anything apart from maybe some leaflets from the Miscarriage Association.

“The one thing I want to talk about today … is about baby loss certificates, because that is one thing you can have and you can hold when you’ve got nothing else of your baby’s.”

She added: “There’s an inconsistency where parents don’t live in the same part of the UK.

“The issue stems from the verification process, which uses NHS numbers and postcodes to confirm eligibility. But it results in the problem whereby the baby loss certificates that I have, does have my name on as the mother, and are left blank where the father’s name should be.

“Not because he doesn’t want to be on that certificate, but because the system says no. Because his postcode is wrong. So you can’t have both parents’ names on the baby loss certificate when you live in different parts of the United Kingdom.”

Responding, health secretary Yvette Cooper said she wanted to give Smith “a personal undertaking” to raise her testimony with the Scottish Government.

“I will absolutely follow this up directly, on baby loss certificates, with the Scottish Government because it’s just unthinkable that she could be left in such a distressing situation, and that other people will be in a similar distressing situation for a lack of coordination between governments,” Cooper added.

Linden raised the same issue in Holyrood last week during a debate on the topic. Both were tabled to coincide with Baby Loss Awareness Week, which began on October 9. He said resolving the issue would bring “an awful lot of serenity” to grieving parents.

Linden said: “We need to understand that families come in very different shapes and sizes.

“People’s arrangements are very different. The reality is that the arrangements around the baby loss certificate mean that, if a father is domiciled in Scotland, he cannot be recognised as the father of that child, and the same thing goes for the arrangements in Scotland: if the other parent is domiciled in England, they are not recognised.”

He added: “We will not be the only people who have been affected by that, but when things really matter to you, they really matter.”

Scotland’s health minister, Maree Todd, replied: “I am ashamed to say that I was not aware of the issue that David raised. I am absolutely more than happy to commit to resolving that cross-border issue, and I will keep him updated on progress.”