Nottingham University hospitals NHS Trust’s maternity wards are currently under review. Specifically, an inquiry revealed that almost nothing has been done to combat racial bias between patients. This came over two years on from another inquiry on discrimination within the health service
No change at Nottingham University hospitals
Nonprofit Birthrights launched an investigation in March of 2022 on how healthcare professionals treat women of colour in maternity wards. It found that caregivers often dehumanised and subjected them to racism. In some cases, healthcare professionals even coerced women into taking medial treatments:
‘Most of the current policies from Government and NHS England are not explicitly recognising racial bias and discrimination – that is a glaring gap.’
‘A midwife told our inquiry, “one of the things that is embedded in the system is the blame put on black bodies.”‘ @AmyLWGibbs pic.twitter.com/Araqoib9iv
— Birthrights (@birthrightsorg) March 31, 2022
After learning about these injustices within the medical space, Birthrights made a series of recommendations for the maternity system to embed. It said that:
We are calling for urgent and immediate action from all parts of the maternity system, including the implementation of our Universal Recommendations
These were to:
- Commit to being anti-racist
- Decolonise maternity curriculums and guidance
- Make Black and Brown women the decision makers in their care and in the wider maternity system
- Create safe, inclusive workforce cultures
- Dismantle structural barriers to racial equity through national policy change
Nottingham University hospitals has been conducting another inquiry looking into its midwife Services. Despite being years on, it is still seeing the same types of racial prejudice in how services treat pregnant mothers.
Developing investigations
Donna Ockenden – a senior midwife who became concerned about the issue when she initially began interviewing mothers – is leading it. The Ockenden inquiry has been reviewing cases all the way back to 2012. Women have come forward with similar horror stories of bias and disrespect from staff workers, and even other patients, for a separate maternity review focused in the Shrewsbury and Telford areas.
The Nottingham University hospitals investigation into variation in treatment has found that approximately 300 newborns were left brain-damaged or dead. This change in procedure depending on ethnicity is a direct cause of the poorer care provided to Black and brown mothers, with nearly 40 stillbirths recorded between 2022-2024 alone.
The investigation was able to build a better picture of what was happening. The 774 different cases brought forward by families gave a wide range of results.
Despite general improvements to the service’s infant mortality rate and injury reduction, children with Black or brown parents are also still almost double as likely to be at risk of losing their child from pre-term (early) births compared to white parents. Ockenden said:
“Families have told us that they felt dismissed by the trust. They weren’t believed they were in labour. They weren’t believed they were in pain. They were denied admission to the trust” – Donna Ockenden
What’s next?
The Labour government has promised better funding and easier access to health services going into 2025. Labour’s manifesto said that:
With Labour, it will always be publicly owned and publicly funded. But our ambition goes beyond returning the NHS to what it was.
However, many have lost faith in the service through experiences in the past. If the NHS continues to not meet expectations of the public, it will not be successful.
Featured image via YouTube
