As you know, Bliss has been working on our next three-year strategy for the period 2022-2025, and we’re really grateful to all of you who have been able to contribute to our thinking on this so far.
The strategy is now taking shape, and we will be holding a focus group in the week of 14th February to discuss its themes and priorities – if you’d be interested in finding out more and possibly attending this discussion, please email involvement@bliss.org.uk with the subject "Strategy Focus Group" by 5pm on Wednesday 16 February.
About neonatal care is our introduction to the world of neonatal care for parents at the beginning of their neonatal journey.
To make sure that our information remains useful and up to date for the families that we support, we rely on the insights of parents with a lived experience of neonatal care.
We would be so grateful if you were able to share some of your time with us and join our focus group for this years’ review. This would involve an initial questionnaire based on a small section of the resource, followed by an optional online meeting to discuss feedback as a group.
We would like to send these questionnaires the week beginning 21 February and hold the group meetings the week beginning 7 March. If you would like to be involved, please email involvement@bliss.org.uk with the subject "About neonatal care".
We have an opportunity to help reach more families with Bliss' support.
Share your views on how Bliss can use social media, our website and free gifts to make more people currently going through a neonatal experience aware of our available support.
As we increase are assessments of neonatal units, we are looking for people with an experience in neonatal care to join our volunteers.
Bliss will provide online training and support to prepare you for this role. This is very rewarding post, as our volunteer assessors are key to helping us accredit units and improve the experience of babies and parents.
If you would like to be part of this panel of assessors, please do get in touch with charissamuels@bliss.org.uk by 25 April for more details.
This section discusses baby loss. Please skip this section if baby loss is something you don’t feel comfortable reading about right now, and remember we’re always here for you at hello@bliss.org.uk.
Bliss offers two dedicated types of fundraising for parents whose baby needed extra support after birth:
- Precious Star Funds are for parents to commemorate a baby who sadly died.
- Sunshine Funds are to celebrate a baby who had a difficult start in life but who may now be well.
We are looking to hear from people who do not currently have a Fund to help us make sure that our Funds meet the needs of parents. If this is you, we’d love to know what you think of the Funds and if you have any suggestions on how we might change them.
Thank you so much for your time. If this email has been upsetting in any way and you would like to speak to someone, please do reach out to hello@bliss.org.uk.
Bliss is currently in the process of setting up a peer support group on Facebook, where parents of babies born premature or sick can be part of a community, have their questions answered by other parents, and offer and receive support. The group will initially run for three months as a trial, we will then assess its success and decide whether or not to continue the group.
We would love for you to help us launch the group by being members and help us to create a supportive and friendly community into which we can welcome families who are currently going through their neonatal experience.
If you would like to join the group, please fill in this form and we will let you know when the group goes live.
If you have any questions, feel free to email lizzywilson@bliss.org.uk.
The Paddington Study is developing resources to support parents when their baby is discharged from a neonatal unit on medicines in the UK and Ireland. They are looking for participants for focus groups where you will be able to share your views about the information that would have been helpful. If you’d be interested in taking part, or would like more information please contact PMRU@alderhey.nhs.uk
