Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of (a) maternal and (b) perinatal deaths for women and children from migrant and refugee backgrounds.

On 6 September 2021, NHS England published ‘Equity and equality: Guidance for local maternity systems’, which focuses on actions to reduce disparities in health outcomes for women and babies. Local Maternity Systems have been asked to plan interventions to improve equity for mothers and babies, which will benefit inclusion groups such as migrants and refugees. The guidance asks Local Maternity Systems to ensure equity in access, experience and health outcomes and address the leading causes of perinatal mortality and morbidity for babies from black, Asian and minority ethnic groups and those living in the most deprived areas. NHS England has provided £6.8 million to support Local Maternity Systems to implement these plans.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ guidance ‘Language Interpreting and Translation: Migrant Health Guide’ gives advice on health needs of migrant patients for healthcare practitioners. The guidance states it is the responsibility of NHS service providers to ensure interpreting and translation services are made available to patients free at the point of delivery. Healthcare employers should advise staff on the arrangements for local interpretation services.