Minister for Women’s Health among those to be questioned on Black maternal health
The Health and Social Care Committee will hold a second evidence session on Black maternal health at 9.30am on Wednesday 18 June.
Meeting details
This session will be an opportunity for MPs to reflect on the evidence they heard in their session in May, in which witnesses highlighted that there are significant gaps in culturally competent maternal care for Black women. Witnesses described how Black women need greater support to self-advocate due to systemic dismissal of their concerns, racial biases in healthcare, cultural insensitivity, and fear of negative repercussions from social services. The Committee also heard how more efficient data collection, particularly relating to ethnicity, is vital to understanding disparities in maternal care.
In next week’s two panel session, MPs will first pose questions to witnesses from the Royal College of Midwives, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and Birmingham & Solihull United Maternity and Newborn Partnership.
The Committee will explore why Black women face higher rates of clinical interventions during childbirth and what training is provided to healthcare professionals to ensure that Black women are listened to and enabled to make decisions during childbirth. MPs will also examine whether medical professionals are currently supported to accurately identify medical conditions in Black women and babies.
In the second panel, the Committee will question the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Patient Safety, Women's Health and Mental Health, the Chief Midwifery Officer at NHS England (NHSE), and the Director of the National Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Programme at NHSE.
MPs will ask the second panel why outcomes in Black maternal healthcare do not appear to be improving, despite initiatives to improve maternity outcomes and will pose questions on the removal of ringfenced funding for maternity services.
The Committee will also question the panel on efforts to increase the number of midwives by 2026 and what steps are being taken to increase diversity while increasing numbers.