Community insights on maternity choices
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Healthwatch Waltham Forest undertook research on maternity choices. They spoke to 103 people who received antenatal care in Waltham Forest.
Receiving maternity care from professionals of their preferred gender was either very important or quite important to 53 percent of respondents. For 43 percent, it was either very important or quite important to receive maternity care from professionals who are familiar with the patient’s culture and religion.
83 percent either strongly agreed or agreed that they felt comfortable asking midwives and other healthcare professionals any questions they had and 76 percent either strongly agreed or agreed that they felt that if they had any concerns about pregnancy, medical professionals would take them seriously.
They found that mothers-to-be travelled, on average, for 22 minutes for an antenatal appointment.
Of all patients, 69 percent had a choice about where to have antenatal appointments, but only 38 percent of those referred by a GP had a choice. Of those who self-referred, almost all (98 percent) had a choice about where to have the appointment.
Of the respondents, 18 percent were digitally excluded, 10 percent were single parents, 7 percent lived in multi-generational households, 2 percent were neurodiverse, and 2 percent were disabled.