A bereaved couple have shared their heartbreaking story on film to help hospital staff comfort grieving parents.

Jo and David Ward were devastated when their daughter Abigail was delivered stillborn at 41 weeks.

Now the pair have used their grief to help other families in similar situations.

Mr and Mrs Ward, who live in Rochester, commissioned a DVD which focuses on their hospital experience after discovering their baby had died at the end of a full-term pregnancy.

“Its aim is to improve bereavement care for midwives and other medical staff,” Mrs Ward said. “I remember a cleaner saw me crying outside the maternity ward and said ‘don’t worry love, it will all be all right’, as she thought I was in labour.

“She wasn’t to know I had just lost my daughter and she felt awful but it really affected me. It’s like an emotional scar.”

The nine-minute movie, called the Deafening Silence, was paid for by Abigail’s Footsteps, the charity launched by the family in memory of their first born.

It is supported by fundraising events and a percentage of profits from sales at the couple’s wedding dress shop Abigail’s in Headcorn.

Scenes were shot at Medway Maritime Hospital, where Abigail was delivered in 2009.

Actors have been cast for Mrs Ward, 34, and her 45-year-old husband, who have a son Reuben, three, and daughter Betty, two.

Mrs Ward said: “It’s been difficult to watch our story be recreated. I’ve had to remove myself from it as it’s been very emotional. But I’m proud of our little girl and I know she would be proud of what we’ve achieved.”

The DVD, which has been produced in conjunction with Child Bereavement UK, will be distributed to staff at the hospital after its premiere next month, and will eventually form part of midwifery training programmes across the country.

For more information about the charity and future fundraisers, including the annual ball, visit www.abigailsfootsteps.co.uk