Parents whose baby died during pregnancy or shortly after birth believes that they received worse care due to their ethnicity, a charity has said.
Baby loss charity Sands spoke to bereaved parents, some who believed that stereotyping had put them at risk.
According to data it shows that, Black and Asian babies are more likely to be stillborn or die in the newborn period. The government mentioned that they will reduce any differences which is connected to ethnicity or deprivation.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health said that, NHS England has published guidance for local maternity systems and supported by £6.8m.
We are also investing an additional £165m per year to grow and support the maternity workforce and improve newborn care, while NHS England recently published a three-year plan to make maternity and newborn care safer, more personalized, and more equitable for women, babies, and families.
The survey spoke to 56 Black and Asian bereaved parents and more than half of them felt their treatment was worse due to their ethnicity.
Members in the Sands study included some Black women who said that they were characterized as feisty or dramatic by healthcare staff, when they were really afraid or in pain.
Many Asian members in the study said stereotyping involved being discharged as overly nervous or prone to exaggerating health concerns.
Amber Lincoln’s twins Anaya and Mael were born and died at 22 weeks. Amber Lincoln from Woolwich in south-east London was miscategorized as low-risk when she was pregnant with twins.
She is a mixed white and Black Caribbean who had previous miscarriages and a short cervix.
She almost died due to unnoticed complications after her delivery.
She bled profusely and almost died during surgery. This was two weeks after the loss of her twins.
What I realize is that I was treated as a single pregnancy, and wasn’t treated as high risk.
“If the NHS just listened to me. And put my appointment through when I was always asking.
Ms. Lincoln said the fact she is mixed race led to midwives focusing on diabetes and high blood pressure rather than other high-risk indicators.
I would say that, every mum no matter what race, culture, background – every parent, deserves to come home with their babies.
Research by the Infant Mortality and Morbidity Studies group at the University of Leicester and Oxford Population Health’s National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit used anonymized medical notes to build on the annual Perinatal Mortality Surveillance reports into babies who die before, during, or shortly after birth.
The study observed at the pregnancies of 34 Asian women, 36 Black women, and 35 white women where the baby was stillborn or died within 28 days of being born.
Even though the overall quantity of babies who died has lessened over the past five years, there are still big differences in the proportion of babies from different ethnic groups who are dying.
While comparing from all ethnic groups, presently black babies have the highest mortality rates and are twice as likely to be stillborn or die during the first 28 days after birth and Asian babies are over one and a half times more likely compared with white babies.
The Royal College of Midwives said a multi-agency approach is needed to improve maternity outcomes for Black and Asian women as well as those living in the most disadvantaged areas.
A spokesperson said that, much more needs are to be done to address health differences and reduce stillbirth and newborn death among Black and Asian babies.
Clinicians, including midwives and obstetricians, should receive better education to be aware of the high risk for Black and Asian women and make sure that they receive the proper assessment and specialist care, relatively simple measures like improvements in access to translation services and provision of personalized care and support plans could have made a positive difference in the outcomes for these women and babies.
