A newborn baby crying in its mother’s arms.
In a series of “deeply concerning” reports by England’s two public health regulators, the inequality watchdog has accused maternity staff of racist behaviour.
Several cases of racism against patients have been reported by the Care Quality Commission, which regulates healthcare providers, and the workforce watchdog for England’s public health system, the National Health Service.
In one case, a qualified midwife at a Midlands hospital reportedly called Ms Brown an “Asian princess” when she asked for pain medication during labour.
The trainee midwives described the behaviour to visiting NHS England staff, training and education teams at University Hospital Birmingham, and said some midwives were less considerate towards women of colour, particularly if English was not their first language.
This comment was reported in the trade magazine ” HSJ.
Midwives play a vital role in maternity care in the UK. They qualify through three years of university-level study and attend all planned births.
The trainees’ claims reflect concerns raised in an ongoing investigation into obstetric care at Nottingham City Hospital in the East Midlands.
“Non-white mothers are spoken to in a more disrespectful and dismissive manner than white mothers,” senior midwife Donna Ockendon, who is leading the independent inquiry, wrote in a letter to hospital trust chief executives.
The Care Quality Commission recently raised similar concerns about care at Kettering hospital, also in the East Midlands, where its inspectors found “discrimination against ethnic minority patients” in their report.
England currently faces major patient safety issues in maternity units across the country, and a number of factors, including long-standing understaffing, are thought to have contributed to a toxic culture in many hospital groups, as multiple independent investigations have found.
Activists have long questioned racial inequities in health care, with women of color experiencing significantly worse birth outcomes and much higher maternal mortality rates than white women.
Leaders of inequalities watchdog NHS Race and Health have condemned the recent racist incidents. Chief executive Habib Naqvi said: HSJ He said he was “deeply concerned” by the reports.
He cited “discriminatory behaviour and working practices…” [can] It leads to a hostile and unsupportive learning environment, impacts on patient care and safety and seriously undermines the NHS’s workforce recruitment and retention objectives.”
Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of hospital leadership group NHS Providers, said organisations were working hard to “eradicate racism”, “improve equality in care” and create a “safe and supportive environment for all patients”.
Lawmakers have previously criticized the administration for not adequately acknowledging and responding to clear evidence of racial disparities in maternal health, and Cordery on Friday called on leaders to do more.
“Maternity services face many challenges, including increasing case complexity, significant workforce shortages and persistent health disparities,” she added, calling on the government to provide “national support for efforts focused on training, education and cultural competency”.