The Safer Baby Bundle is a national initiative with five evidence-based elements to address key areas where improved practice can reduce the number of stillborn babies.
Stillbirth is a personal tragedy for the families involved and a serious public health problem with far reaching social, emotional and financial burdens on all involved. The rate of stillbirth in Australia is higher than other top performing countries. In many cases stillbirth is preventable and research shows 20-30% of late gestation stillbirths could be avoided with better care.
The Stillbirth CRE has led the development of a bundle of care to address the priority evidence practice gaps in stillbirth prevention for implementation across maternity services. This work is being done in partnership with health departments across Australia and key stillbirth advocacy organisations, Stillbirth Foundation Australia and Still Aware.
By implementing the Safer Baby Bundle elements of care, the overall goal is to reduce stillbirth in Australia by 20% for women from 28 weeks' gestation and beyond.
A Safer Baby Bundle Handbook and Resource Guide has been created as an informational support to assist maternity healthcare professionals with implementation of the Bundle. Free and accredited CPD training for healthcare professionals is available from our e-learning modules.
The Safer Baby Bundle consists of 5 elements designed to reduce stillbirth rates after 28 weeks' gestation.
Continuity of Carer - in addition to the five bundle elements, we emphasise the need for maternity services to address the other important aspects of best practice care to reduce stillbirth rates. This includes the recommendation that maternity services increase the availability of midwifery continuity of care models to all women (reducing the risk of fragmentation of care) and particularly for women at increased risk of stillbirth.
The Safer Baby Bundle evidence-based eLearning module provides a suite of educational resources based on the latest clinical best practice in stillbirth prevention. The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Centre of Research Excellence in Stillbirth (Stillbirth CRE) eLearning provides evidence-based and collaboratively designed learning resources for healthcare professionals working with pregnant women.
Join the team that's reducing stillbirth in Australia. Start today!
All practitioners providing maternity care are encouraged to undertake the Safer Baby Bundle eLearning module to support the provision of best practice care.
Become a Safer Baby Bundle champion in your workplace. The Safer Baby Bundle Masterclass is an interactive presentation that has been developed for maternity health professionals as an overview of the Safer Baby Bundle eLearning.
This 60-minute Masterclass summarises the five bundle elements, highlights key evidence and clinical recommendations related to the Safer Baby Bundle, and discusses basic principles for implementation. Request a copy of the Masterclass today to become a Safer Baby Bundle champion in your workplace.
You can also view a PDF version below to preview the presentation and understand how you might use the Masterclass to educate colleagues about the Safer Baby Bundle.
The Safer Baby Bundle for Australian maternity healthcare professionals is a collection of change ideas or interventions for Australian maternity healthcare professionals designed to reduce late pregnancy stillbirth. The interventions are based on evidence summaries developed in partnership with the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand (PSANZ). Development of the SBB has drawn from the expertise and experience of international advisors from the UK Saving Babies Lives Bundle of care.
A 20% reduction in stillbirth rates has been seen in the UK and Scotland, where a similar care bundle has been implemented. We believe that implementation of the Safer Baby Bundle in Australia will result in at least the same reduction in stillbirth. We think the bundle will also reduce serious adverse outcomes in live-born babies, improve health outcomes among mothers, increase mothers' satisfaction with care, and be cost-effective.
The Safer Baby Bundle was initially developed in Australia with the health departments in New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland, as well as key stillbirth advocacy groups Stillbirth Foundation and Still Aware. Our partnerships with Safer Care Victoria, Clinical Excellence Queensland and NSW Health led to the roll-out of the Safer Baby Bundle across Australia, which is already showing promising results with a 21% reduction in stillbirth rates across participating maternity services in Victoria in 2020-21. Today, the Safer Baby Bundle has commenced implementation in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory, and endorsed by a large number of advocacy groups and professional colleges. See our partners for details.
We are committed to reducing the inequity in stillbirth rates and are currently consulting with communities across Australia to adapt and develop our resources.
We have established partnerships across Australia with Indigenous communities in NT, SA, QLD, and WA, and working with our Advisory Groups to create Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, and rural and remote versions of the Safer Baby Bundle Masterclass and resources. The Stillbirth CRE has also co-designed Safer Baby Bundle resources for women and their families with translations into 23 languages.
Bereaved parents discussing the importance of the Safer Baby Bundle.
