Today, the Pregnancy Loss Research Group at University College Cork is launching a suite of resources to improve the care of people who experience miscarriage and recurrent miscarriage.

Developed as part of the Health Research Board-funded RE:CURRENT study, with the involvement of people with lived experience, health professionals and decision-makers in the maternity services, resources include information booklets on miscarriage and recurrent miscarriage. With the support of the National Women and Infants Programme within the HSE, printed copies of the information booklets have been distributed to all 19 maternity hospitals/units in Ireland and they can also be viewed or downloaded from the national Pregnancy and Infant Loss Ireland website: www.pregnancyandinfantloss.ie.

Professor Keelin O’Donoghue, Consultant Obstetrician and Principal Investigator of the RE:CURRENT study highlighted:

The resources launched today are primarily aimed at people who experience miscarriage and recurrent miscarriage, as well as care providers. We continue to advocate for the structural changes required to improve care by enhancing supports for miscarriage and recurrent miscarriage nationally.

Almost one in four women who participated in the RE:CURRENT care experience survey rated their overall recurrent miscarriage care experience as poor and almost one in five said the care they received was much worse than expected. Participants were more likely to report a good overall care experience if they received verbal information, written information and answers they could understand regarding investigations. Interviews with service providers and people with lived experience highlighted the need to provide women/couples with information about miscarriage and recurrent miscarriage in advance – to prepare them for what might happen around the time of loss, decisions around miscarriage management, clinic appointments, and/or to set their expectations of pregnancy and how one in four pregnancies can end in miscarriage.

Jennifer Uí Dhubhgáin, Chair of the Miscarriage Association and Member of the RE:CURRENT Research Advisory Group, welcomed the resources, adding:

“These resources that are being launched are very welcomed. They are the culmination of a lot of work and they will be a great resource for those going through or having experienced pregnancy loss. Pregnancy loss and miscarriage is such a difficult, traumatic and heartbreaking time. People are often left feeling very lost, alone and unsure where to turn for information and answers, but these resources are a very welcome source of information.”

Speaking about the launch of the resources, Dr Cliona Murphy, Clinical Director of the National Women and Infants Programme said:

The information booklets launched today – developed in line with national clinical guidance – will enhance service provision and care experiences by addressing the lack of information provided in hospitals regarding miscarriage and recurrent miscarriage. We are currently developing a suite of booklets for other forms of pregnancy loss.

Multi-lingual videos regarding information and supports around recurrent miscarriage are also now available in a range of languages, including Arabic, Catalan, English, French, Greek, Irish, Irish Sign Language, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian and Spanish. More languages will follow.

An appointment letter template for recurrent miscarriage clinics has also been launched, which aims to provide people with more information and details of supports in advance of their first appointment. As part of efforts to improve miscarriage services more broadly, the team has also created a checklist for use within emergency rooms/departments for staff to use when people initially present with signs or symptoms of miscarriage. The impact of inappropriate physical spaces within maternity hospitals/units on people as they experience pregnancy loss or return for appointments was evident in interviews conducted as part of the RE:CURRENT study. While structural improvements are needed, a suite of exemplar case studies is also now available to assist maternity services to enhance spaces, on a small or larger scale.

All of the resources are now available on the Pregnancy and Infant Loss Ireland Website (www.pregnancyandinfantloss.ie), with information booklets and videos also available on the Cork Miscarriage Website (www.corkmiscarriage.com).

Notes to Editor

  • Conducted from 2020 to 2023, the RE:CURRENT (Recurrent Miscarriage: Evaluating Current Services) study evaluated recurrent miscarriage services in Ireland to inform efforts to standardise and improve the quality of these services. Through a subsequent knowledge translation award, the team developed resources to enhance the uptake of the RE:CURRENT findings into practice and policy. Key impacts were highlighted in the Health Research Board’s Health Research in Action 2025 report, available at: https://www.hrb.ie/publication/health-research-in-action/
  • The RE:CURRENT study was conducted with the support of a 22-person Research Advisory Group, including people with lived experience of recurrent miscarriage, health professionals, and people involved in the administration, governance and management of maternity services.
  • Research studies quoted:
  • The information provided within the booklet on recurrent miscarriage is based on the first national clinical guideline for recurrent miscarriage, which was informed by the RE:CURRENT study findings and published in 2023. This new guideline redefined recurrent miscarriage within the Irish context as the loss of two or more consecutive pregnancies in the first trimester. This is now more in line with evidence and other European and international guidelines, and the needs of people with recurrent miscarriage who previously had to wait until they had three miscarriages to access public services. The content in the miscarriage booklet aligns with the new clinical guideline on miscarriage which was published in March of this year. The Group collaborated with Amy Lauren on illustrations for the booklets which highlight key themes from the research.
  • The National Clinical Guidelines are a programme of work agreed between the National Women and Infants Health Programme and the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland. Professor Keelin O’Donoghue was appointed as the new Clinical Lead for Guideline Development (Maternity and Gynaecology) in 2021. All national clinical guidelines are available here: https://www.rcpi.ie/Faculties-Institutes/Institute-of-Obstetricians-and-Gynaecologists/National-Clinical-Guidelines-in-Obstetrics-and-Gynaecology

About the Pregnancy Loss Research Group

The Pregnancy Loss Research Group (PLRG) leads national research to better understand pregnancy loss experiences and impacts, and the development of resources and evidence-based advice and interventions, to improve health care (quality) and health and social outcomes for women, babies and their families. This includes all types of pregnancy and infant loss, including first trimester miscarriage, second trimester miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, molar pregnancy, multiple pregnancy complications, stillbirth, termination of pregnancy, neonatal death and pregnancy after loss.

Resources for individuals, families, health professionals, and anyone who needs information and support about pregnancy and/or infant loss

For more on this story contact:

Next Article 
 Back to News and media