Early care scheme could prevent thousands of miscarriages a year

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. Early care scheme could prevent thousands of miscarriages a year 5 hours ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google Vicki Loader Health producer Getty Images After going through two devastating miscarriages, Lisa Varey could not believe what she was thinking. She knew she would have to miscarry again before she could get the help she needed. Only when you have had three miscarriages do you normally qualify for specialist NHS help in England.

One in five pregnancies end in miscarriage, most before 14 weeks. Lisa, 34, told her husband: "We're not waiting another year. We need to be pregnant and miscarry as soon as we possibly can.

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" She says they looked at each other, and said: "I can't believe I'm actually saying this out loud. " Lisa is now pregnant again and says the pilot project at Birmingham Women and Children's Hospital has made a huge difference After her second miscarriage, Lisa was invited on to a pilot project at Birmingham Women and Children's Hospital, which experts believe will prevent thousands of miscarriages every year by offering earlier checks and advice. Tests showed she would benefit from taking the hormone progesterone to help maintain her pregnancy and a regular aspirin tablet to increase the chances of a healthy birth.

Lisa is now pregnant and in the last weeks of her second trimester. She breaks down in tears as she speaks about how much difference the project's help has made. "There's so much support for pregnant women, but it didn't always feel like there was any support for women who were no longer pregnant.

We're having to go through that journey of just feeling very sad. " 'You feel like your body has failed you' Emily, 42, from Birmingham, suffered two miscarriages in one year and it left her feeling like her body had "failed" her. She had struggled to get pregnant and was undergoing rounds of IVF - so when she got a positive test, she says she felt "this is it".

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Then a scan showed the baby was not growing as it should, which she says was devastating. She went on to have a second miscarriage, before she was invited to join the Birmingham project. She was put on aspirin and a higher dose of folic acid.

She says being offered early tests gave her possible reasons for the miscarriage, which took away "the guilt and shame that you feel". "Knowing there were things that could make a difference. That gives you some hope to hang on to," Emily says.

Tommy's, the pregnancy charity, says NHS care offered to women who have suffered three miscarriages can be "inconsistent and inadequate". Before then, women are often told to simply go home and to try again. 'Human kindness lies behind our baby loss hub' What not to say to a friend who is struggling to conceive Runner's inspiring challenge after five miscarriages Both Lisa and Emily were part of the Birmingham study, which compared two groups of 203 women who had previously suffered miscarriages.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.