Trust member resigns in protest over ‘angel’ ban (From Essex County Standard)

Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust resigns over 'angel' ban

6:10pm Saturday 26th June 2010 in News By Frances Leate

A HEALTH trust member has stepped down after a support group at Colchester General Hospital was told it could not refer to stillborn babies as angels.

Peter Villiers-Tuthill was so outraged by the midwife’s objection, he has rescinded his membership at Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust.

He signed up in October after an operation at the Turner Road hospital, but now said he wanted nothing to do with the trust.

Whisperers, a group founded by Michelle Taylor, of Salvia Close, Clacton, created angel parent bags to give to bereaved mothers.

They include two teddies – one for the baby and one for the parents – a candle, toiletries and information about support groups.

But the trust said it could not use the word angel because it might offend non-religious families.

Mr Villiers-Tuthill, 69, from Clacton, said: “I don’t want anything to do with them because of their attitude towards the charity.

“The senior midwife, who objected to this, seems to have little idea about how religions react to things.

“I worked in the Middle East for a number of years, and if you go to any of the shopping malls in Dubai, or Abu Dhabi, over Christmas, they are full of decorations and the local children and their parents are first in line to see Father Christmas.

“These ill-informed people at the hospital make these decisions without really giving them any thought. I have withdrawn my membership in protest.”

Mark Prentice, spokesman for the trust, said: “We are always very disappointed to lose any public members because we are always looking to recruit, but obviously it is his decision and we respect that.”

The trust has 6,540 public members, who can help to make decisions through the Members’ Council.