Black Maternity Matters delivers safer maternity care for Black mothers

The Black Maternity Matters programme was launched in 2021 for perinatal staff in the West of England to improve maternity care for mothers racialised as Black, referenced in this case study as ​‘Black women’ or ​‘Black mothers’.

The programme was set up to support maternity staff and explore how to improve the quality of maternity care for Black women. It consisted of three core elements:

1. peer support
2. anti-racist education and training
3. coaching in QI.

Informed by local parent partners who shared their experiences of maternity services, members of the project team aimed to view maternity care through Black mothers’ perspectives. The insights they gained from this research were used to shape the education and training package for staff.

Member of the project team for Black Maternity Matters included:

• Aisha Thomas, Representation Matters 
• Ann Remmers, Health Innovation West of England 
• Genevieve Riley, Health Innovation West of England 
• Jelena Ivanovic, Health Innovation West of England 
• Katie Donovan-Adekanmbi, BCohCo 
• Nathalie Delaney, Health Innovation West of England 
• Noshin Emamiannaeini-Menzies, Health Innovation West of England 
• Pete Carpenter, Health Innovation West of England 
• Sonah Paton, Black Mothers Matter 
• Vanesther Hamer, Health Innovation West of England 

A collaboration between Health Innovation West of England, Black Mothers Matter, BCohCo and Representation Matters, the Black Maternity Matters pilot project was supported through Q’s funding programme at the time, Supporting Local Learning.

The project steering group had representation from the two NHS trusts involved, the education leads, Black Mothers Matter, the Midwife Champions and clinical, communications and project leads from Health Innovation West of England. 

Fifteen midwives, maternity health care support workers and assistants from across the West of England took part in the pilot.

Participants in this project were invited to join the Health Foundation’s Q community and to form their own group to focus on future maternity care improvement.

In the UK, women racialised as Black continue to face significant disparities in maternal health outcomes. 

These include higher rates of mortality, stillbirths and traumatic births as well as poorer perinatal mental health compared to their White counterparts. 

Black women in the UK are nearly three times more likely to die during pregnancy or in the post-natal period than White women. Stillbirth rates of Black women are over twice those of White women. [ref]Allison Felker, Roshni Patel, Rohit Kotnis, Sara Kenyon, Marian Knight (Eds.) on behalf of MBRRACE-UK. Saving Lives, Improving Mothers’ Care Compiled Report – Lessons learned to inform maternity care from the UK and Ireland Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths and Morbidity 2020–22. Oxford: National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford 2024.[/ref]

Black women are known to experience ​‘near misses’: instances of poor care and psychological impact during pregnancy and post-natal care that have not yet been a focus of research. This project aimed to support perinatal teams to reduce the inequitable maternity outcomes faced by Black mothers and their babies.

Members of the collaborative created a six-month education and training programme focusing on anti-racist training, cultural competency and diversity fluency. The Midwife Champions provided clinical content and context to support the design and delivery of the training, and took part in the training themselves.

Participants were supported to examine unconscious biases and the role of the individual in perpetuating unsafe systems of care for Black women. The education leads’ specialist knowledge and experience in anti-racist training meant that they were able to adjust the teaching programme to enable deeper dives into concepts or areas that were particularly relevant for the group.

This ability to assess the needs of the participants on a collective and individual basis gave participants a bespoke and intuitive educational experience about delivering high quality maternity care for Black mothers.

Along with the training, participants were supported to gain knowledge and skills as QI practitioners. They were able to develop the ability to design, implement and test QI projects in their own maternity care services.

The learning from Black Maternity Matters is to be developed into a national resource to reduce inequity for other populations within and outside the maternity system. There are also plans to set up a group on the Q website for maternity care.

Setting up the project allowed partners in maternity care in the west of England to create their own regional network, which will enable them to consider opportunities for future partnership working.

Members of the team established a level of respect, clarity and partnership that has enabled frank and honest conversations, allowing them to embark further on their own individual anti-racism journeys.

Perhaps the most important result from this project has been the response from Black communities themselves. 

Black communities have told the project team partners that Black Maternity Matters was an important signal that health care professionals and local maternity care services understand action is needed to reduce harm for Black mothers and their babies.

Midwife Champions made a unique contribution to Black Maternity Matters and need to be part of the project from the start. Given the particular pressures of a Midwife Champion, the role needs to be appropriately structured and enumerated.

Using a co-production model with the trusts, along with team of highly skilled, knowledgeable trainers and a group of partners with lived experience allowed the project team to develop specialised, impactful and innovative training material.

Enabling trust staff to be a part of designing, delivering and participating in the training themselves ensured that training and education component of this project became part of a wider system change.

The success of the programme to date is largely attributable to its collaborative approach, with Health Innovation West of England working in close partnership with local community organisations and anti-racist educational experts. 

Collaborating with Black Maternity Matters and local parent partners allowed the project team to gather and use real time evidence in their work. This method of working enabled members of the project team to increase their cultural competency and diversity fluency, which they used to optimise outcomes for Black mothers and their families.

Health Innovation West of England acted as a link between the regional organisations involved, enabling a network to develop across organisational boundaries.

The community of practice that has now developed as part of the Black Maternity Matters project also opens the possibility for continued collaboration across different specialisms in the future.

The Black Maternity Matters programme has evolved iteratively since the pilot in response to learning and insights gathered from participants and course leaders during each phase. 

In 2024 a specific cohort for senior leaders was introduced, recognising that healthcare professionals are limited to how much change they can activate without senior leadership advocacy. This includes but is not limited to chief executives, chief nursing officers, medical directors, heads of midwifery, and integrated care board (ICB) leads.

This element of the programme has been a gamechanger for Black Maternity Matters in catalysing wider cultural ​‘acceptance’ and a broader understanding of the need for an anti-racist approach and methodology to achieving long-term change.

By the end of 2025, 10 perinatal cohorts across the three local maternity and neonatal systems in the West of England and three cohorts of senior leaders will have completed the Black Maternity Matters programme. That’s 300+ graduates – and counting.

The success of Black Maternity Matters to date was recognised in March 2025, where the collaborative won the award for community project impact at the Black Maternal Health Awards.