Racism and 'poor' staff relationships factors in maternity care failings, report finds

According to an interim study, maternal services in England are failing too many families, with issues at every step of the maternity journey.

Baroness Amos, who is leading a government-commissioned inquiry, identified six reasons, including racism, staffing, and accountability.

With Baroness Amos meeting more than 400 families, more than 8,000 people have so far submitted evidence.

Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, has confirmed that she will act on her final recommendations, which will be announced in June.

I have seen bad, ineffective, valuable, and excellent care co-existing side by side,

Baroness Amos told BBC Breakfast: "i have seen disappointing, in

"Families have shared with me positive and painful experiences. It's patchy, it's unclear, and it's the focus of this probe, which is looking for the things that make us go from bad and bad to healthy and outstanding.

"I am able to state categorically that there is safe care. I have seen instances of it. There is good care, but I haven't seen examples. However, I have seen way too many examples of poor care.

"I've heard from families that it's so traumatic and distressing. Trusts have modified their procedures as a result of what has happened in those trusts, and I have seen trusts that have changed their procedures. It is a very mixed picture. It is not consistent.

According to the interim report, racial inequalities and discrimination are present throughout the system.

"We've heard of stereotypes being used in maternity and neonatal care. According to the report, Asian women are stereotyped as 'princesses', with the suggestion that they are overly demanding or unable to cope with pain.

Black women related to their experiences of being labelled as having tough skin and being "able to tolerate pain.

According to the survey, Muslim families were discriminated against because of their faith and felt unable to raise concerns due to fear that discriminatory attitudes could result in poor treatment for their children.

Baroness Amos' research was based on six key areas.

Baroness Amos said in a tweet that it was

clear from the meetings and discussions I have had with hundreds of women, families, and staff members around the country

that maternity and neonatal services in England are lacking too many women, babies, families and staff.

For years, failures within the framework have been known about and reported. Following inadequate care at Morecambe Bay, Shrewsbury & Telford, East Kent, Nottingham, Leeds, and a number of other NHS Trusts, the BBC has spent more than a decade serving bereaved and injured families.

Orlando Davis died in September 2021, aged 14 days, after Worthing Hospital in Sussex failed to alert his mother that she had developed hyponatraemia, a lower than average sodium level in the bloodstream, during labour. According to an inquest, neglect contributed to the infant's death.

Not listening to my fears is the primary reason we're here without our son,

Robyn's mother said.

Midwives believe there is a cultural issue within maternity services that midwives assume they should know better because they are the professionals, according to Jonathan.

The only one that really knows what's going on in that person's body is the mother,

he said.

Both parents are members of Truth for Our Babies, an advocacy group that is calling for an independent inquiry into maternity services at the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust. Earlier this month, BBC News and the New Statesman discovered that at least 55 babies over a five-year period may have survived with improved care.

The Davis family is concerned that the Amos report will result in improved health care in England, and that a statutory inquiry will be requested.

It's not going deep enough. It's not limited to what's going on in these hospitals. It's the regulators as well,

said Robyn. Baroness Amos is not reviewing the laws.

We have received a lacklustre care as families, Jonathan said. "We [therefore] deserve the highest degree of accountability, and a rushed, high-level investigation, rather than a formal inquiry, is not receiving the gold medal.

"If a [properly] investigated inquiry finds findings, future mothers and future children will not suffer the same irreversible fate as we have.

Michelle Welsh, a well-known campaigner on maternity care, believes that the Amos study will lead to a squib and that the government should respond decisively, including the creation of a central commission responsible for ensuring health care improves.

This inquiry must result in some significant, bold policies in maternity care,

she said, "We want to expand maternity services as a government, so we must invest in it, and we will ensure the truth and accountability for families.

Streeting also stated that he would chair a maternity taskforce early this year to drive change, despite the findings' announcement in June. However, it has been reported this week that the company has yet to be established. The Department of Health and Social Care announced that they would be a member "shortly.