The Stillbirth Priority Setting Partnership launches today. Sands is involved in this very important work inviting parents, health professionals and anyone affected by stillbirth to submit what they believe are the most important unanswered questions in stillbirth research. These might be related to prevention of stillbirths, management of stillbirths or bereavement care. Please get involved by going to www.stillbirthpsp.org.uk. The website explains the work and provides an online survey for you to make your suggestions for research priorities. The survey will be open until mid July 2014.
The work is being co-ordinated by Dr Alexander Heazell, from Manchester University, with support from the James Lind Alliance and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). Sands is on the Steering Group for the work.
Once the top 10 to 15 research questions have been identified through a process of consultation, cross-checking with published research and a final workshop to decide the top priorities, these will be logged in an NIHR data base by this time next year. We anticipate that funders will look to this prioritisation list as a guide for the most important areas for funding.