Building excellence in maternity care; 'The Maternity Stream of the City of Sanctuary'

Pregnant asylum seeking and refugee (AS&R) women living in the UK tend to have poor underlying physical and mental health and are at an increased risk of negative pregnancy outcomes including perinatal and maternal mortality.... [ view full abstract ]

Pregnant asylum seeking and refugee (AS&R) women living in the UK tend to have poor underlying physical and mental health and are at an increased risk of negative pregnancy outcomes including perinatal and maternal mortality. It is therefore essential that they receive good quality maternity care to address these inequalities. However, evidence suggests that in reality, they often have poor experiences, with health professionals not understanding their health and social needs and how to refer them to specialist services, but also displaying poor attitudes, rudeness and racism. This reflects negative public attitudes around asylum seeking, questioning their genuineness and criminal intentions.

Evidence suggests that engaging the public with AS&R people and learning about their background is helpful in constructing more positive attitudes. Listening to AS&R pregnant women expressing their needs and experiences underpins the philosophy of the Maternity Stream of the City of Sanctuary.

The Maternity Stream is a network of AS&R women, and professionals including midwives, academics, commissioners and voluntary sector personnel, who are committed to an agenda around building and promoting maternity services which overcome the inequalities pregnant AS&R women face.

This presentation will explore how the Maternity Stream drives forward this agenda by engaging voluntary and statutory maternity services with AS&R women to learn about women’s needs and experiences, then build and promote inclusive services and link with other organisations to ensure women receive the care they need. Through following this process and demonstrating the achievement of set criteria, services can apply for and achieve the unique ‘maternity service of sanctuary award’.

This presentation will discuss this award, sharing women’s experiences and our resources, including the ‘Global Context’ model and clips from the videos developed by AS&R women, to assist the building and promotion of excellent services to address current inequalities experienced by pregnant AS&R women.