Clea HarmerSector leader

Chief Executive

Sands (Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity)

Sands (Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity) is based in Bermondsey and Old Southwark (London)

Cited in UK press coverage of health & social care

2 citations

Across 1 topic, first on 27 Aug 2026.

Biography

Dr Clea Harmer has been Chief Executive of Sands, the UK's leading pregnancy and baby loss charity, since 2016, having joined from NCT where she served as Head of NCT College. She initially qualified as a doctor and subsequently worked in higher education, research and charity leadership, bringing experience across medicine, adult education and the voluntary sector. Sands works to support anyone affected by the death of a baby, to improve bereavement care in maternity services, and to reduce the number of babies dying in the UK. Harmer has been a consistent public advocate for systemic reform of maternity and neonatal care, calling on successive governments for dedicated funding and accountability mechanisms. She chairs the Charity and Third Sector Expert Reference Group of the government's National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, and has previously chaired the NHS England Maternity and Neonatal Programme Stakeholder Council and the Baby Loss Awareness Alliance. In 2022 she was appointed MBE for services to baby loss awareness and supporting bereaved parents.

References

1.Sands announces new Chief Executive, Dr Clea Harmer | Sands — Confirms appointment as CEO in 2016, prior role at NCT as Head of NCT College, and background in medicine
2.Sands Chief Executive Clea Harmer presented with an MBE | Sands — MBE awarded in 2022 Birthday Honours for services to baby loss awareness; presented by HRH Princess Anne
3.Clea Harmer appointed Chair for NHS England's Maternity and Neonatal Stakeholder Council | Sands — Confirms appointment as Chair of NHS England's Maternity and Neonatal Programme Stakeholder Council, February 2024
4.Taskforce set up to deliver urgent action on maternity | Department of Health and Social Care — Confirms Harmer as Chair of Charity and Third Sector Expert Reference Group on the National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce (2026)

Expertise

Cited on

Hospital discharge / bed-blocking

Stated areas of expertise

Stillbirth and neonatal death prevention
Maternity safety policy
Bereavement care in maternity services
Baby loss awareness
Health inequalities in perinatal outcomes
Charity leadership in health

Notable achievements

Awarded MBE in the 2022 Birthday Honours List for services to baby loss awareness and supporting bereaved parents, and presented with the award by HRH Princess Anne. Source ↗
Appointed Chair of NHS England's Maternity and Neonatal Programme Stakeholder Council in February 2024. Source ↗
Appointed Chair of the Charity and Third Sector Expert Reference Group on the government's National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, chaired by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (2026). Source ↗
Led Sands' work embedding the National Bereavement Care Pathway into NHS England guidance and the RCOG Maternity Service Standards Framework. Source ↗
Visited 10 Downing Street in 2020 to present an open letter to the Prime Minister calling for reinstatement of the Maternity Safety Training Fund. Source ↗

What they’ve said

“At Sands, we hear regularly about the devastating impact of the lengthy delays on parents, who are left in limbo, waiting for answers and for vital information they need to plan their futures.”
Chief executive of the baby loss charity Sands · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Bereaved parents face ‘harrowing’ delays for NHS postmorterms ↗
“What the results do show is that too often pregnant women are not feeling listened to when they had concerns, or not having those concerns taken seriously. We know that listening to parents saves lives.”
Chief executive of the baby loss charity Sands · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · One in five women in England say their concerns were ignored during childbirth, survey finds ↗

Source references

Bereaved parents face ‘harrowing’ delays for NHS postmortermstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
One in five women in England say their concerns were ignored during childbirth, survey findstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Contact & links

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.

Chief executives, directors and spokespeople of trade bodies, representative associations and charities speaking for the sector. Citations are counted by an automated scan of UK press coverage and may be incomplete. Roles, biographies and contact details are researched and human-reviewed before they appear here; anything not yet reviewed is simply absent rather than shown unverified. See the methodology for how this page is built, or email contact@bridgeheadcommunications.com to correct anything on it.