Today the Care Quality Commission (CQC) released their report on a national review of maternity services in England 2022 to 2024.
A programme of inspections by the CQC has found continued concerns about the quality of NHS hospital maternity services with common issues impacting on safety at services across the country. In the report published today, CQC presents the findings from its recent national maternity inspection programme and calls for action now to avoid poor care and preventable harm becoming normalised.
Jabeer Butt, CEO of the Race Equality Foundation notes:
The Care Quality Commission’s review of maternity services reveals a shocking pattern of poor practices leading to negative outcomes for Black, Asian, and minoritised ethnic women. What’s more troubling is that these issues have been raised multiple times before.
The racism experienced by pregnant women, such as inadequate communication, alongside the poor treatment of Black, Asian, and minoritised staff, clearly points to a deeper, systemic problem.
In 2022, we criticised NHS England’s decision to drop its commitment to provide continuity of care for 75% of pregnant women from Black, Asian, and ethnic minority backgrounds by March 2024. So, today’s CQC report is, unfortunately, no surprise. While the Darzi review highlights maternal care for Black, Asian, and minoritised ethnic women as a failing area, it fails to recognise structural racism as a key factor in these poor outcomes. This raises the question: Will the new government’s proposed 10-year plan bring about meaningful change?
Read the full report here.
