A Walsall Healthcare Midwife is one of the keynote speakers at a national event aimed at improving pregnancy care and tackling equalities.
Carol King-Stephens, Equality Diversity & Inclusion Lead Midwife, has been invited to address today’s (Wednesday 11 January) Westminster Health Forum.
Its theme is: Priorities for pregnancy care and support in England – improving safety and outcomes, listening and personalisation, tackling inequalities, developing the workforce, and key issues for policy
Carol will be speaking about her role and her ideas for improving the care and support of pregnant women from ethnic minorities.
She said: “I am proud to have been asked to be a speaker at this important event where I will be focusing on the efforts being made to address inequalities affecting ethnic minority women in pregnancy care which include their access to services, effective interventions, support and information, and improving their pregnancy outcomes.
“I took up my role in Walsall in March last year and have spent my time connecting with our diverse communities in the borough. I have joined sessions with women at schools and those who meet at Walsall Black Sisters Collective, Caldmore Community Garden and Nash Dom Community Hub to name just a few.
“When we talk about the importance of our service users having early access to help and advice to best support their health and wellbeing before, during and after pregnancy I think we have to be really honest with ourselves and examine what we are doing to reach out to these communities.
“We need to speak to people where they feel comfortable and safe and that is often not a health setting. By going to where they do feel at ease I have managed to find many willing volunteers to work with our organisation to help us address health inequalities.”
Carol’s role is aligned with MBRRACE (Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audit and Confidential Enquiries) reports. MBRRACE is a national audit programme and is commissioned by all UK governments to collect information about all late fetal losses, stillbirths, neonatal deaths, and maternal deaths across the UK.