Oxford University Hospital’s NHS Foundation Trust (OUH) has now joined forces with Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage Research, as the Nuffield Department of Women’s & Reproductive Health at the University of Oxford leads the UK’s largest programme dedicated to understanding and preventing miscarriage (the spontaneous, unintentional loss of a pregnancy before the fetus is viable).
This research is taking place in partnership with the University of Birmingham, University of Warwick, and Imperial College London, highlighting its position as the biggest research centre focused on miscarriage in Europe. Currently, over 2,500 babies are stillborn each year in the UK, and 53,000 babies are born prematurely. The aim of the research is both to understand why this is and to change this situation for the better.
Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage Research is the largest UK charity researching the causes and prevention of pregnancy complications, miscarriage, stillbirth, and premature birth. The charity was founded in 1992 when two obstetricians at St Thomas’ Hospital in London, Dr Ian Fergusson and Dr Anthony Kenney, sought to provide answers to the many questions surrounding premature birth. Along with one of their patients, Lucy Nelson, they launched a campaign raising money for pregnancy research projects, which eventually became what we know today as Tommy’s charity.
The charity focuses on four key themes based on what people who experience miscarriage have questions about. These four key areas focus on understanding why miscarriage happens, if it will happen again, how it can be prevented, and how people can emotionally move forward after experiencing a miscarriage.
In addition, the centre is also trying to challenge current provisions that are in place and ensure that people experiencing miscarriages gain answers sooner. The current health guidelines mean that women must have three consecutive early miscarriages, which are called recurrent miscarriages, before any investigation happens. The research aims to challenge this and help provide people with the answers and support that they deserve.
According to Tommy’s Research Centre, miscarriage is the most common pregnancy complication, with approximately one in five women experiencing at least one miscarriage during their reproductive lifetime. Despite this, the answers to the questions above are still not being given. The centre believes the situation “can and must change”, which is why it was opened in 2016.
The work done by the Tommy Research Centre has already shaped national guidance, including the landmark PRISM (Progesterone in Spontaneous Miscarriage) trial.This was a UK-based, randomised, double-blind, and placebo-controlled study involving over 4,000 women, which evaluated whether vaginal progesterone pessaries could prevent miscarriage in early pregnancy for women experiencing vaginal bleeding.
The results concluded that progesterone could be prescribed to some women experiencing early pregnancy bleeding to prevent miscarriage, with the hormone increasing the live birth rate from 57% for those with the placebo to 72% for those with progesterone. This means that progesterone treatment for women with early pregnancy bleeding could prevent up to 8,540 miscarriages annually in the UK. Such a breakthrough led to updated NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) recommendations.
Not only this, but researchers from the centre also contributed to the Miscarriage Matters series, published in The Lancet in 2021. This was a series of three papers which reviewed the evidence on miscarriages and challenged any misconceptions. The authors, Siobjan Quenby, Arri Coomarasamy, and colleagues, call for a complete rethink of the narrative around miscarriage, as well as for a comprehensive overhaul of medical care and advice offered to women who have miscarriages. The three papers were: ‘Miscarriage matters: the epidemiological, physical, psychological, and economic costs of early pregnancy loss’, ‘Sporadic miscarriage: evidence to provide effective care’, and, ‘recurrent miscarriage: evidence to accelerate action”. According to Tommy’s research centre, these papers laid bare the devastating impact of miscarriage and set out recommendations to improve treatment and support for early loss. They also had a petition calling on the government to implement much-needed changes, which received over 254,000 signatures, and a Graded Model of Miscarriage Care, which was recommended in the Pregnancy Loss Review in 2023.
So what does the partnership with Oxford University mean for helping this change to happen? By adding Oxford University into this monumental research, there are hopes for even further progress to be made as well as more resources being dedicated to researching miscarriage, including an additional hospital to the four that already contribute to the existing research.. As well as Birmingham Women’s Hospital, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire, Queen Charlotte’s Hospital, and St Mary’s Hospital, the Trust’s Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit (EPAU) at Rose Hill will act as the clinical hub for Tommy’s in Oxford. In addition, miscarriage support clinics will be introduced across OUH to expand care for women and families affected by pregnancy loss. Moreover, according to the NHS, the partnership means that the world-class care given by the miscarriage service at Rose Hill will now be enhanced by additional support from Tommy’s research nurses, midwives, and clinical fellows.
Professor Arri Coomarasamy OBE will be the director of the centre in Oxford, and Professor Adam Devall will be the deputy director. According to Coomarasamy, welcoming Oxford University will help strengthen the shared commitment to changing the reality that is not just clinical loss, but also “a deeply personal loss felt by individuals and families.” He said that they will do this by turning the evidence and insights from their research into new tests and treatments for the benefit of women and couples. He stated, “Our ambition is clear: to translate research into real improvements in care.”
Dr Pedro Melo, the Honorary Consultant Gynaecologist and Subspecialist in Reproductive Medicine, has been appointed Clinical Lead for the Tommy’s Centre for Miscarriage Research at Oxford.
Additionally, Yvonne Christley, Chief Nursing Officer at OUH, stated, “expanding our services to further support those affected by miscarriage is a fantastic development, and we look forward to working in partnership with everyone involved.”
So what does this say about research into women’ s health generally? Dr Pedro Melo expressed that the addition of Oxford University and the Rose Hill clinical hub is an “important step towards improving care and support for women and families affected by miscarriage”, but it is also monumental in the progress of support for women’s health in general.
This monumental progress in research of women’ s health also coincides with another recent step forwards in increased support, research, and discoveries of women’s health. The decision to change the name of ‘PCOS’ (polycystic ovary syndrome) to ‘PMOS’ (polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome) has recently been announced as part of a global initiative to improve diagnosis and treatment. The new name was published in The Lancet medical journal on Tuesday 12 May, 2026, and was decided after a global collaboration between experts and women with PMOS, ruling that the previous name was scientifically inaccurate. There is hope that the new medical term will better represent the condition and aid with more research. Labour MP Michelle Welsh, who is the chair of the PMOS cross-party group, called the discovery a “watershed moment, not just actually for polycystic ovaries, but for women’s health overall”.