Maternity report

Healthwatch Barking & Dagenham, Healthwatch Hackney, Healthwatch Havering, Healthwatch Redbridge, Healthwatch Tower Hamlets and Healthwatch Waltham Forest were commissioned by North East London Local Maternity and Neonatal Service to establish the demand for and nature of culturally sensitive maternity care provision and the reasons for choice of maternity units.

They undertook a survey of 403 people during the period December 2022 to February 2023.

Key findings:

• Referral by GPs seems to lead to a lower level of choice and co-production experienced by maternity service users than self referral mechanisms
• Service users from Black African, Turkish, Pakistani and Eastern European communities are less likely to experience choice of maternity unit
• Fluency in English is a well-known marker of inequality, and we see this here.
• Being a single parent, although now less stigmatised, remains a marker of inequality and may represent an access barrier
• Respondents of Black ethnicities experience a double barrier to maternity care because they are more likely to value cultural symmetry but less likely to experience this.
• Polish and Pakistani respondents were less likely to report having access to professionals who speak their language.
• Antenatal classes have suffered a pandemic impact. They are no longer widely available free at the point of access, and this might negatively impact service users facing inequality.
• Antenatal provision is at times perceived to be rushed and lacking engagement from Maternity Health professionals.

The report contains eight recommendations about awareness of health inequalities, referrals, capacity, waiting times, staff training, interpreting services and parking.