Maternity services across Suffolk and North East Essex launch project to reduce risk for minorities
The campaign sees minority groups share their maternity experiences to educate health professionals
Last updated 17th Oct 2022
Maternity services across Suffolk and North East Essex have responded to a national inquiry into racial injustice and human rights in maternity care
They've launched a campaign called 'It's okay to ask' which comprises of 11 short films featuring people from minority groups sharing their maternity experiences.
It's hoped the films will be helpful to educate health professionals.
We spoke to Teri Gavin Jones, the clinical lead for maternity across Suffolk and North East Essex, who told us about the research that prompted this project: "Mbrace have... looked at mothers who were white and living in the least deprived areas, and the rate of stillbirth for that group of women was 2.78 per 1000 births.
"Then they looked at Black African and Black Caribbean women living in the most deprived areas and their rate of stillbirth per thousand births was eight, which is shockingly high compared with white women.
"Then there was another report by a charity called Birth-rights which did a yearlong study into maternity outcomes for all different populations.
"What they found really worryingly - that black women are five times more likely to die than white women, and Asian women are two times more likely to die than white women.
"When they're talking about death, they're talking about during pregnancy childbirth, and in the first year after they give birth, so we know there are massive health inequalities."
The 'It's okay to ask' project
Teri explained more about the project: "The first thing we've done is work with the community. We've partnered with seven different community organisations. We're really excited about this because they've created some grassroots maternity ambassadors and advocates.
"We're building relationships with those communities, putting the community and maternity together. We're encouraging them to access maternity care sooner than they might have and building those relationships of trust with them.
"It means that if we have relationships of trust, we're going to see better outcomes in maternity so we're working with those communities.
"The second thing we're doing is around the staff. We've created 11 films based on cultural differences that midwives may not know about.
"We know that can be challenging to open a conversation about diversity because of the fear of offending somebody but what the community are telling us is: it's OK to have those conversations.
"Thus we've titled the films 'It's okay to ask' because the community is saying: 'ask us about our ethnicity, about the colour of our skin, about our different beliefs and cultures.'
"The films give us a really unique insight into the lives of people who have different belief systems, cultural spiritual and religious beliefs
"We know that if we understand each other better then we are going to have better outcomes for maternity."
Why are these films so important?
Teri told us these films are going to be screened at first sight as a premiere next Tuesday (18th October 2022) and then they're going to be hosted virtually.
A link to each film is going out right across the NHS and there are plans to use them to train students, GPs and health visitors.
Teri explained they'll benefit everyone: "There's a real fear of offending nobody wants to offend. We do it out of a place of goodness, but of course, it's not just about colour.
"We're not just talking about black and brown people. We are also talking about people from the LGBTQ + community.
"We're talking about somebody who maybe has a disability or a learning disability or the Roma community and we've worked with some of the gypsy and traveller communities as well.
"So there's a wide range of communities that maybe that health professional isn't familiar with.
"It helps build confidence building when we, as health professionals, hear from people from that community to say: 'actually it's fine. Ask and if you get the terminology wrong, we won't judge you. We won't mind because it's coming from a good place.'
"So the power of the films is in the community themselves, saying to health professionals just ask us."
We asked Teri what it means to be a part of this project: "I've been a midwife for a lot of years ... and what it means to me is, I think it's the most meaningful work I've ever done as a midwife because it will impact so many lives.
"I've learned so much! You're never too old in your job or profession to learn new things.
"I've learned so much from the community that I had no idea about before I started working with them and they're things I think will directly impact the way we care for that population of women and families, so it means an awful lot to us".