Ep 4: Maternity

Black Maternity Matters is a ground-breaking collaboration tackling the inequitable maternity outcomes faced by Black mothers and their babies. They’re working to support maternity systems to offer safer, equitable care for all. 

In the UK, Black mothers are up to four times more likely to die during pregnancy or in the postnatal period (six weeks after childbirth) than white women. The systemic biases and structural racism behind the figures is an area where improvement has the potential to make real impact. 

We talk to three of their improvement leaders:  

• Sonah Paton, Founding Director of Black Mothers Matter, collaborative partner on Black Maternity Matters.  
• Noshin Menzies, Senior Project Manager, Health Innovation West of England 
• Ann Remmers, maternity and neonatal clinical lead, Health Innovation West of England 

During this episode guests and hosts use the term ‘racialised as Black’, alongside talking about the experience of Black mothers, parents, and Black children. The use of ‘racialised’ acknowledges that white-centric societies have systemically categorised people according to the colour of their skin, or their culture.  

This act of racialising people with healthcare leads directly into these stark differences in experiences of care, treatment, and health. As Esmee Fairburn put it, “‘racialised’ doesn’t define people’s community or identity, but the phenomenon that is happening to them”.

You can find the show notes and references from this episode on our website: https://www.nhsconfed.org/podcast/maternity

For more information on out Learning and Improving Across Systems Peer Learning Programme, please visit: https://www.nhsconfed.org/learning-improving-systems/peer-learning

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