She is the one person no parent would ever wish to meet - but she plays a vital role at the hardest of times.

Sue Cooper is the dedicated bereavement midwife at Hull Women and Children's hospital - a job she says is "heartbreaking."

Working on the labour ward where about 5,000 babies are born every year, her job is incomparable to her previous role as a labour ward sister where she welcomed babies into the world to overjoyed parents.

She instead now works from the new bereavement suite which is tucked away on the ward where she offers emotional and practical support for grieving parents.

Video Loading

Sadly, Sue, who has worked for the health service for 37 years, is needed to help the families of around 100 babies who die each year.

Here, Sue talks about the role which was introduced last year, and explains why there is a need for such dedicated support.

Why is the role needed?

Sue, who has been a midwife since 1995 said: "The role is something that the SANDS charity had campaigned for, for someone to co-ordinate bereavement care.

"Prior to that there was no co-ordination - I'm not saying we didn’t care, but there wasn’t anyone to co-ordinate it.

"A grieving mum would be cared for by their midwife, then once home, the community midwife, but then after 28 days that woman would be discharged. The health visitor didn't get involved as there was no baby, so it was hit and miss and the care was sporadic.

"She might ring up, but wouldn't have a designated contact. Now, they have a dedicated person for as long as they need.

"I am called in as soon as I am available after the baby dies. They have my number and they can be in contact with me for as long as they wish.

"I often support women up to their next pregnancy."

Where do you provide the care?

The bereavement suite
The bereavement suite

"There's a dedicated bereavement suite – it's on the labour ward but it’s tucked out the way. It's a dual suite, it’s like a hotel room, thanks to SANDS who decorated it.

"It's got a double bed, TV, fridge, soft furnishings. Parents can use that room for as long as they like, with their baby, in cold cots."

The hospital has specialist cold cots which have cold plates which can be fitted inside a Moses basket. The cooling unit allows families to spend extra time with their baby, by regulating its temperature.

What does an average day look like?

"It does vary so much. If there's a newly bereaved family in the hospital a lot of my time is spent with them, giving them the extra level of support, advice and to make sure that the experience is as good as it can be.

"It's a dreadful time and I can't make that better, but if they feel alone and don't get the needed support and advice then it's even worse.

"I talk to the parents, the main thing is listening, giving advice, we have lots of things to help them, a great big support pack that SANDS produced.

Sue Cooper, Specialist bereavement midwife with the cold cot
Sue Cooper, Specialist bereavement midwife with the cold cot

"We also have leaflets for dads, grandparents, employers. They also have Abbie's fund memory boxes.

"I help them to make memories, I give emotional and practical advice. I give advice about the funeral.

"The initial period is just complete shock and grief, and I'm just there to co-ordinate everything."

Who are you supporting?

The bereavement suite at Hull Women and Children's Hospital
The bereavement suite at Hull Women and Children's Hospital

"I support anyone that comes through the maternity service, it can be a loss from 14 weeks pregnancy, to stillbirths, neonatal deaths and sudden infant deaths.

"It is potentially 100 losses per year, so I am providing a lot of support.

"People will deal very differently with bereavement so I can’t say I support every woman in the same way, some women don’t even want to see the bereavement midwife so I’ve got to be very flexible in my approach.

"You don’t make assumptions of how anyone will react, I can’t be judgemental, the reactions to grief are vast so you’ve got to be really adaptable.

"People can be angry and at the end of the day I work for the health service so if they feel its gone wrong, I'm part of that, and I understand that."

How do you deal with the grief?

"It is sad. It’s very difficult and that’s why I funded my own counselling course - that gives me the emotional capability to cope with it, I’ve learnt a lot over the past year.

"It can be heartbreaking, it can be so heartbreaking but there are some rewards if you feel you've helped someone a little bit in the journey.

Join the Hull Parents group

We've created a Facebook group for anyone bringing up children in and around the Hull area.

This group is a forum to chat, discuss, exchange advice and opinions and to rant, if you want to!

It’s home to stories which affect Hull parents, days out reviews, local information and competitions.

The group is run by mum of two Joanna Lovell – the parenting reporter at Hull Daily Mail.

Join the group here.

"I am now, a year after, starting to see women coming back that are pregnant and having babies, so I've supported a lot of women through the next pregnancy.

"Sometimes they need that person to ring who they know and trust.

"Although the next baby doesn’t ever replace the one they have lost - they don’t have another to replace their baby, because you can’t ever do that - but to see a family have a live healthy baby when they’ve been though such a trauma is rewarding."

Why did you go for the role?

"I could see the frustrations on the labour ward when sometimes we didn’t have a process to make sure that women were looked after.

"Also, from a personal prospective, I had cared for a family that lost twins and it was a very traumatic time for them, the lady was very sick and I delivered her babies in intensive care.

"Because it was so unique I really bonded with her and her family and we kept in touch to the point where she knew if she did have another baby she could contact me and she did, and I then looked after her when she had her next baby.

"The team that she knew delivered her baby and that was perfect for her, she had that contact and that support.

"I’m so passionate about what I’m doing. Nobody has done it before, I like making a difference and setting things up, it was a blank canvas so it was about developing a service from scratch.

"Sometimes I try to change the world, but it's about building things up that makes a difference to women.

"I've not said I got it right every time because I'm dealing with so many different people who are grieving."

What else do you do?

The new building will be adjacent to the Hull Women and Children's Hospital
The new building will be adjacent to the Hull Women and Children's Hospital

As well as directly caring for grieving parents, Sue is tasked with carrying out an investigation into all stillbirths.

"We now carry out a systematic review of all stillbirths and neonatal losses," She said.

"Using the perinatal mortality review tool we review every stillbirth and produce a report for parents which is very new. I’m the main reporter.

"Also, there is a Government initiative to half stillbirths by 2025. So I attend bimonthly meetings to look at the iniatitive."

Hull was one of 11 hospital trusts chosen in October to trial new National Bereavement Care Plans covering five areas – the loss of a baby in early pregnancy, terminations linked to foetal abnormalities, stillbirth, neonatal death and the sudden death of a baby up into the age of one.

Sue's role is part funded by local charity, Abbie's Fund for two years.

"I think it’s proved its worth, there’s no way that it won’t continue," she said.

It's completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and what’s on information. You can download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple's App Store, or get the Android version from Google Play.