Half of black women in UK who raise concerns during labour did not receive suitable help

[IwantToRetire]

Maternity experiences of more than 1,000 pregnant people found black women up to four times more likely to die in childbirth

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jul/21/half-of-black-women-in-uk-who-raise-concerns-during-labour-did-not-receive-suitable-help-study-finds

I know there have been other threads about this on FWR, but cant seem to find them. Only to say that the situation still seems to be as bad as it was a year ago(?)

Four times more likely to die. Fucking hell. That's awful. And the refusal to give pain relief is just gobsmacking.

I very much hope the following from that article -

'The health and social care committee is in the middle of an inquiry into black maternal health and, earlier this month, the health secretary announced the launch of a national maternity investigation.'

Leads to changes and isn't just a handwringing exercise.

(Edited to add, handwringing is not to say they shouldn't be horrified by it but hopefully they can recognise and change the situation and not just leave it to continue)

There remains an almost three-fold difference in maternal mortality rates amongst women from Black ethnic backgrounds compared to White women. The maternal mortality rate for Black women has decreased from 2019-21 but not statistically significantly so.

The apparent disparity has decreased largely due to an increase in the maternal mortality rate amongst White women. As in 2019-21 there remains an almost two-fold difference amongst women from Asian ethnic backgrounds compared to White women.

https://www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/mbrrace-uk/data-brief/maternal-mortality-2020-2022

This is the campaign / support group
https://fivexmore.org/

This is not surprising, unfortunately. I live in hope that things will change, for the better, but whilst certain beliefs are being held, they will impact on how people are treated.

30 percent of births in 2023 were to foreign born mothers and its almost 70 percent in London. That's just census data so won't include many people here.

I expect the language barrier is enormous.

That alone would not be enough to explain what is happening here. Lots of foreign born people, do actually speak English, or would be able to access an interpreter during hospital appointments, etc.

Interesting comment article -

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/black-women-maternity-nhs-health-racism-b2793132.html

Its gutting that this doesn't seem to improve. Its been discussed considerably and im sure investigated before.

Its not ok.

Lots don't.

There's over 60 nationalities in London and also 60 nationalities working for the NHS so the language complexity that creates is enormous. Are interpreters for 60 languages on call and provided for all labour? That's amazing. And amazingly expensive.

Once you turn a country maternity service into a 70 percent global service, where 70 percent of the funding is spent on foreign parents you have created a massive amount of problems.

And as it over 60 nationalities both as users and service providers which of the nationalities have the wrong beliefs?

Talk about whataboutery.

Nothing you have said is logical.

And its clear if you bothered to read up on the issue and the women campaigning that this appalling treatment is impacting British (just to be clear)Afro Caribbean women.

Whilst Asian women have a less worse outcome.

What goes on inside your head that you would write something so offensive as that.

Just seen this

The cost of the UK’s broken maternity care system: NHS facing £27bn bill for maternity negligence claims
https://birthrights.org.uk/2025/07/24/the-cost-of-a-broken-maternity-care-system-nhs-facing-27bn-bill-for-maternity-negligence-claims/

It is clear where this is going. As far as I am concerned the racist attitudes that have been harming WoC in maternity care, are long overdue, being looked into. The Government has finally seen that there is a persistent problem that is no longer tolerable. It is about time something is done to minimise the harm that is being done, due to outdated, racist beliefs.

Makes my point really.

Which race is being racist though? All of them?

Black, and Asian Women fare worse when giving birth. Take from that whatever you wish to.

Quite. It's an inescapable truth which needs addressed.

Yes, but even that will be a problem for some people. How sad. All Women should be treated with a decent level of care, and respect, when giving birth.

Even a Black woman as rich and famous as Serena Williams isn't safe:

Although the hospital staff didn't seem overly concerned, she insisted on getting tests to see if blood clots had formed while she was off her regular medication.
"They were trying to talk to me, and all I could think was, “I’m dying, I’m dying. Oh my God.' ”
When her doctor finally agreed, the tests revealed that immediate surgery was necessary to keep the clots from reaching her lungs.
"Being heard and appropriately treated was the difference between life or death for me," she writes, calling attention to a chilling statistic.
"In the U.S., Black women are nearly three times more likely to die during or after childbirth than their white counterparts," Williams says. "Many of these deaths are considered by experts to be preventable."
Serena Williams describes nearly dying from childbirth complications

It’s disgusting, and distressing that we know this- we’ve seen it, noticed it, and still not resolved it.
That said, I didn’t read the document.
I’d be interested to know the percentage of white women who raised concerns and didn't receive appropriate help. I think it’s an issue for all women, and clearly even more so for black women.
Has it been adjusted for other influences- poverty or health conditions that are more prevalent in black women?

The fact that poverty impacts health and maternity outcomes, and that black women are more impacted by poverty and therefore every other bad outcome, is appalling in itself. And poverty is getting worse, not better. Bloody scandalous.

I don’t think that’s helpful.

It’s worth considering whether the care teams are also from a varied ethnic background and therefore whether it’s about institutional racism and poor understanding of the health needs of darker skinned people, rather than racism in the immediate care givers.

I remember reading that medical textbooks are illustrated with light skinned examples, so any symptoms will present differently on darker skins.

https://data.unicef.org/resources/dataexplorer/uniceff/?ag=UNICEF&df=GLOBALDATAFLOW&ver=1.0&dq=.MNCHMMR.&startPeriod=2014&endPeriod=2024

Which countries can we learn from?

United Kingdom
()
8.31
Unit of measure: Deaths per 100000 births (Units)

The investigation should look into all those factors. This is not new information.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jul/12/tests-to-assess-newborns-health-not-effective-for-bame-babies-in-uk

No London is not black & Asian majority

• the most ethnically diverse region was London – 46.2% of residents identified with Asian, black, mixed or ‘other’ ethnic groups, and a further 17.0% with white ethnic minorities

www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/uk-population-by-ethnicity/national-and-regional-populations/regional-ethnic-diversity/latest/