Maternity choices survey

Healthwatch in North East London were commissioned by the North East London Local Maternity and Neonatal Service following the development of the Maternity, Equity and Equality Action Plan.  They heard from 403 Maternity service users across North East London through a live survey link between December 2022 and February 2023. Additionally, a one-week snapshot engagement across Maternity Units and community antenatal clinics took place in February 2023 where teams of researchers and volunteers were able to engage with Maternity service users directly.

Key findings:

• They are still seeing an ongoing division in maternity experience relating to health inequality.
• Referral by GP 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
• 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 five recommendations about awareness of health inequality, referrals, capacity and waiting times.