Health inequalities in maternity care begin before childbirth and preventative measures that proactively review the status of a patient and tailor support to their needs are lacking in the NHS.
In our SBRI Phase-1 funded feasibility study, we demonstrated that through proactive maternal health identification and stratification we could effectively provide additional support to women across all maternity stages.
We are incredibly excited to share the findings from a six-month Maternity Care project led by Sandra Nwokeoha from Ellescope and a small but mighty team at First 4 Health Group.
We know from the national MBRRACE report looking at gaps in maternal health in the UK, that a range of women’s medical and non-medical factors can impact their risk during their maternity journey.
In this SBRI-Healthcare funded project, we focused on the non-medical factors that increase risk during women’s antenatal and postnatal stages. This information was used to develop an analytical tool (MpRisk) which helped us better identify which women were at highest risk. We then invited these patients to group clinics set-up by us to create a safe space to talk through their health concerns with relevant professionals and to interact with other women at a similar stage.
The group clinics provided tailored education, follow-up, and emotional and practical support to three groups of women. These three groups included those who were planning to conceive, those who were already pregnant, and those who had recently given birth. Our findings showed that attending the group clinics led to an overall improvement in 62.5% of patient’s self-reported outcomes.
To learn more, head over to First 4 Health Group’s article: https://www.first4healthgroup.co.uk/supporting-equitable-maternity-care
