Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department collects on the (a) racial and (b) ethnic backgrounds of women experiencing adverse maternity outcomes; and how that data is used to inform policy on maternity care services.

Monitoring and utilising data and evidence is crucial to making evidence-based improvements to our maternity services. Data collected on the ethnic backgrounds of women experiencing adverse maternity outcomes can help identify areas that require targeted interventions and improvements in maternal and neonatal care. Monitoring the incidence and rate of adverse outcomes is a crucial step in implementing evidence-based strategies to preventing and mitigating such incidents.

Data on a woman’s ethnic background is collected by services at various points on her maternity journey. National Health Service trusts are incentivised to collect this information, and levels of completeness are high, with 95% of women who gave birth in 2023/24 having had their ethnic group recorded. This information is used to identify differences in care pathways and outcomes experienced by women from different ethnic backgrounds.

For example, Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK (MBRRACE-UK) reports the shocking disparity in maternal mortality rates for black and Asian women compared with white women. MBRRACE-UK has also performed a confidential enquiry into the care of black and Asian women who have experienced a stillbirth or neonatal death. These reviews include recommendations for improvements in clinical processes and policy that may reduce ethnic inequalities in adverse maternity outcomes.

Monitoring the experiences women have of different aspects of maternity care is also crucial. The Care Quality Commission conducts an annual survey that asks pregnant women and new mothers about their experience of NHS maternity services. The 2024 survey found that women who reported their ethnicity as ‘Indian’, ‘Pakistani’ and ‘any other White background’ reported poorer experiences of maternity care, specifically around not feeling listened to and not receiving help during their antenatal and postnatal care. These insights inform local and national interventions.