A fairer start for all mums and babies
Maternity services across Frimley Health and Care have unveiled plans to ensure that the care they provide is better suited to the communities they serve.
Currently outcomes for new mothers and their babies can vary by ethnicity, as a result of a range of cultural, socio-economic and genetic factors.
The new Frimley Perinatal Equity Strategy aims to improve understanding of the many factors behind the variations and create a model where every woman gets a service that meets her specific needs.
The strategy also includes plans for the maternity workforce to reflect the population it serves more than at present, helping pregnant women and new mothers to relate to the services better and be more confident in using them.
Dr Lalitha Iyer, Chief Medical Officer of NHS Frimley, said: “When you appreciate that Asian women are two-and-a-half times more likely to experience gestational diabetes than white women, and folic acid uptake in pregnancy in Slough is less than half that in Bracknell Forest, it’s clear that we cannot have a one-size-fits-all policy towards pregnancy and childbirth.
“Each new parent is an individual and their ethnic, familial, social and economic background is unique to them and will affect their pregnancy and childbirth experience and outcome. This is why we need to be taking a tailored approach to each person and why our new Perinatal Equity Strategy is so important.”
The strategy has been produced in the wake of national research which showed that women from Black, Asian and other ethnic minorities had poorer pregnancy outcomes than white women and a poorer experience of maternity care. They tended to access antenatal care later in pregnancy, have fewer check-ups and scans, less screening and were less likely to receive pain relief while in labour.
Across Frimley approximately fewer than one in 10 people are from an ethnic minority or of mixed ethnicity, yet nearly 30 per cent of births in 2019/20 were to mothers from those groups – against a national average of just over 20 per cent. Between 2020 and 2022, almost a third of all pregnancies within the Frimley area were in Slough – 72% of which were to non-UK parents.
In addition to ethnic diversity, Frimley has a much higher rate of pregnant women with one or more long term medical condition than the rest of the country – 55.8 per cent, compared with 33 per cent nationally.
The Frimley strategy outlines the work taking place to improve the services being provided, from the creation of 12 “maternity hubs” to support women in their communities, as well as support to stop smoking, advice on infant feeding, awareness raising around general health before pregnancy, and much more.
Click here to view the Frimley Perinatal Equity Strategy.
Frimley and Wexham Maternity Voices Partnership is a group of volunteer services user representatives, as well as midwives, doctors and service commissioners, who work together to improve local maternity services. Anyone interested in contributing can contact the group here: www.frimleyandwexhammaternityvoices.org.uk/20-2/