New taskforce to level-up maternity care and tackle disparities

The Department of Health and Social Care has announced the establishment of a new Maternity Disparities Taskforce to explore inequalities in maternity care and identify how the government can improve outcomes for women from ethnic minority communities and deprived areas. This comes as data show:

• black women are 40% more likely to experience a miscarriage than white women
• deprived areas can have higher rates of stillbirths
• there is an almost two-fold difference in mortality rates between women from Asian ethnic groups and white women.

The taskforce will identify the barriers faced and how the government can continue to improve care to further reduce the number of stillbirths and maternal deaths. It will seek to increase understanding of the drivers behind the disparities, examine the social factors linked to poorer health outcomes and tackle these issues in order to improve the health and wellbeing of women and their babies.

The taskforce will be established by Minister for Patient Safety and Primary Care, Maria Caulfield, and co-chaired by Chief Midwifery Officer, Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent OBE. It will bring together experts from across the health service, mothers, government and the voluntary sector.