Black Maternity Matters

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Our goal is reducing racial disparities in perinatal outcomes for Black women, families and babies. We will do this through a multifaceted approach, centring on anti-racism immersion of NHS perinatal services over a sustained period of time, supporting their transformation into Anti-Racist Organisations. This moves the onus away from women and babies racialised as Black, placing it instead on to the unsafe systems of care that perpetuate harm, resulting in improved outcomes and experiences, and a reduction in morbidity and mortality.

A story of collaboration

Inspired by the vision of Black Mothers Matter that one day Black mothers will no longer be disproportionately in danger during pregnancy and the first year after birth, the Black Maternity Matters programme has been developed by Health Innovation West of England in partnership with Black Mothers Matters, Representation Matters and BCohCo.

“No matter what I do to prepare, my safety is in the hands of the healthcare professionals I meet on my journey”

We are grateful to the Health Foundation for funding the initial pilot of Black Maternity Matters through the Q Exchange programme.

About the programme

Evidence shows that people need sustained, psychologically-safe immersion in anti-racist theory and practice to explore the role of individuals, teams, and systems in perpetuating unsafe care. Our partners at Black Mothers Matter advise that traditional approaches to equity, diversity, and inclusion training are insufficient and do not translate into tangible improvements.

Acknowledging that racism within NHS systems causes poor outcomes and experiences for women and families racialised as Black, we believe that anti-racist action is the only way forward.

Our approach is a transformational programme, based on the following components:

In-depth, anti-racist training delivered within a brave space by specialist practitioners with lived experience
This enables teams to train together, gathering multi-disciplinary clinicians from across trusts to collaborate and connect. The training is delivered through three in-person sessions over six months. Cohorts include multidisciplinary perinatal teams and a senior leadership cohort.
Embedding learning into practice
To support the educational component, participants meet an additional three times as part of the Black Maternity Matters Book Club. Each cohort gets a reading list of three books selected to help them explore and reflect on the learning from the educational sessions and connect to their experience and practice.
Turning learning into action
All participants are encouraged to develop their own quality improvement project to make changes within their work context to transform perinatal services and improve outcomes for Black women and babies. As part of this, participants have the opportunity to attend three CPD-accredited QI workshops and join community of practice sessions themed around areas of anti-racism. The workshops are also available as a self-study resource.
An ongoing community
Once the six-month formal learning is completed, participants are encouraged to remain an active part of the collaborative through regular virtual workshops and learning opportunities. This is supported by a dedicated website, Instagram account and newsletter. We also hold an annual graduation and celebration event. Each cohort identifies a champion to support participants back in their own work setting.
Additional inspiration and support
Participants have access to therapeutic support and guidance from a trained, race- and trauma-informed professional if needed. We host additional opportunities for collaborative participants including Brave Spaces (wellbeing and restorative space for participants racialised as Black) and Race-trauma Informed Care learning days, alongside our rolling programme of expert-led workshops.

Progress and impact

We evaluate each cohort of our programme, enabling us to keep making improvements the next time round.

As we move into our fourth cohort in early 2025, we are expanding our evaluation focus to include rigorous analysis of clinical indicators for women and babies racialised as Black.

By the end of 2025 we will have delivered:

10 perinatal cohorts across our three local maternity and neonatal systems in the West of England
3 cohorts of senior leaders
300+ graduates of the Black Maternity Matters programme.

We are currently working with the NHS Race and Health Observatory to formalise our wide range of work into key themes and an actionable framework. We also bring together people from across our Black Maternity Matters community around specialist themes that support the QI work they are delivering within their own organisations.