Received from: RCM
Congress notes with grave concern the continuing inequalities apparent in maternity services, including that:
i. the risk of maternal death for Black women in England is three times that of white women
ii. Black babies are more than twice as likely to be stillborn as white babies
iii. women in England’s most deprived areas had a maternal mortality rate nearly twice that of women in the least deprived areas
iv. stillbirth and neonatal mortality rates for babies born to mothers in the most deprived areas remain significantly higher than those born to mothers in the least deprived areas
v. a recent review found that disabled mothers had a 44 per cent higher chance than others of having a stillbirth.
Congress welcomes:
a. the commitment in last year’s Labour election manifesto that in government the party would “set an explicit target to close the Black and Asian maternal mortality gap”
b. the promise by the secretary of state for health and social care in June to take “the challenge of tackling inequalities across pregnancy and birth head on”.
Congress notes the national maternity investigation in England, to report by Christmas.
Congress, therefore, calls on:
1. the investigation to include recommendations aimed at eliminating inequalities in maternity care
2. the UK government to implement those recommendations
3. the governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to consider which recommendations would be effective in their territories
4. all the governments of the UK to cooperate in eliminating these inequalities.
Royal College of Midwives