Pregnancy, maternity and birth: experiences of care in Haringey's seldom heard communities

Healthwatch Haringey wanted to collect the views of maternity service users to help inform future service improvement projects. They spoke to 54 women via a survey, a focus group and interviews.

Key findings

Healthwatch found a number of issues around communication. Contacting a midwife was not always easy, and only 18 survey respondents (just over half) reported having a named midwife. There was a lack of information and knowledge on how to selfrefer to hospital to receive maternity care. People who spoke English as a second language were less likely to have been provided with information about pregnancy or birth. Those who asked for translated information or an interpreter did not always receive it and two survey respondents who did receive an interpreter or translated information found them not so useful or not at all useful. There was a lack of information in people’s first languages. 

The NHS’s understanding of people’s cultural needs was not always consistent. Nearly a third of survey respondents did not ‘always’ feel able to raise concerns. In terms of care received, people rated ante-natal care best followed by care in labour; but sentiments were less favourable about post-natal care. There were gaps in postnatal care including in breastfeeding support and maternal mental health. There was some concern raised about poor staff attitudes during pregnancy, birth and postnatal care, including an identified need to listen more. Problems were attributed to the pressure of understaffing.

Improvement

 There were broadly four categories of improvements requested by respondents. They suggested improvements to:  staffing, staff training / behaviour, communication and equipment