Hikmat Maternity consultation report, Devon
Download (PDF 513.99 KB)Summary of report content
Hikmat is a user-led co-operative that works with members of the black and minority ethnic (BAME) communities across Devon. They work to reduce isolation and improve health and well-being outcomes. One of the ways they do this is by holding weekly sessions for the Chinese community, fortnightly sessions for Muslim Men and Monthly Ladies only workshops.
Hikmat are a 'Healthwatch Hub' working in collaboration with Healthwatch Devon. According to Healthwatch Devon's website, a Healthwatch Hub is the formal name given to a new or existing community group that has agreed to sign up to our information network and act as a communication channel so that people can share their experience of health and social care in Devon.
This report is a summary of a Maternity Services consultation held by the Hikmat Healthwatch Hub in January 2014. The consultation was carried out through a women's focus group, 9 structured interviews with women and 6 structured interviews with men. It is noted that the experiences of those women who participated through structured interviews were, on the whole, less positive than those who contributed through the focus group. The report suggests that the reason for this may be that those completing interviews did so predominantly because they required an interpreter and that their language issues may have been a contributory factor to their poor experience.
The report shows that, out of the women spoken to, only two women were asked by their GP whether they would like an interpreter. One woman said that, as she always had her husband with her, the GP assumed she was happy with him interpreting. She goes on to say that she wasn't happy about it and was distressed as she felt she was unable to change this. The report found that, of the women spoken to, none were offered an interpreter by their midwife, in fact, one respondent had asked the midwife for an interpreter but was told she couldn't have one. One participant spoke about the distress she felt through not having someone who could speak her language after she had experienced a miscarriage.