MBRRACE Archives - Maternity & Midwifery Forum

Black and Asian women’s experiences of stillbirth or neonatal death: The MBRRACE-UK Perinatal confidential Enquiry

Debra19 December 202319 December 2023

This week MBRRACE-UK has released a new Perinatal Confidential Enquiry, which is an overview of comparison of care reviews at MBRRACE, for Black and Asian women who have experienced a still birth or neonatal death in comparison to their white counterparts (Draper et al 2023). Benash Nazmeen, Assistant Professor......

It’s time to end prison sentencing for pregnant women

Debra13 December 202113 December 2021

In the last two years, two pregnant women inside UK prisons gave birth inside their cells. Both of their babies died. These deaths at HMP Bronzefield and HMP Styal made the news headlines, but they still haven’t stopped courts sending pregnant women to prison. It’s time for that to change.......

Continuity of Carer in Worcestershire

Debra6 December 2021

Continuity of Carer is where you are cared for by a team of six to eight midwives with a named midwife allocated to your care. This midwife and her team will follow you throughout your pregnancy from booking to delivery and into early days of parenthood. In this presentation, Caitlin......

Saving Lives, Improving Mother’s Care- MBRRACE Confidential Enquiry 2017-2019

Debra6 December 20216 December 2021

Dr Jenny Hall summarises the latest MBRRACE Confidential Enquiry, highlighting important aspects for midwives to take on board to prevent further maternal deaths in the future. During November MBRRACE released the next confidential enquiry on maternal deaths and morbidities across the UK for the years 2017-2019. This follows a previous......

Midwifery staffing shortage: midwives voices

Debra9 August 202110 August 2021

Photo courtesy of Unsplash A few weeks ago I posted a blog that discussed midwifery staffing shortage. It provoked an unprecedented response from midwives in the UK highlighting some of the current challenges they face. It seemed only right to follow up on that article, especially since another news report......

The Hepatitis-B Antenatal Screening and selective neonatal immunisation quality improvement project: improving the quality of care of women with hepatitis B in pregnancy and their babies

Debra6 August 20219 August 2021

Photo courtesy Mat Napo on Unsplash This programme is unique in the childhood immunisation programme because actually what we are doing here is vaccinating these babies against a disease to which they have already been exposed so the timeliness of these vaccines is absolutely vital. A review of the hepatitis......

Midwifery Education Practice in Uganda

Debra23 July 20216 August 2021

Bike ambulance driver Grace Kakyo transports a patient in northern Uganda. Photo courtesy CA Bikes Alternatives to traditional ambulances are improving health access In the absence of an ambulance, patients — especially women in labor — have challenges accessing the nearest health facility. In some districts in Africa, women travel......

Conversations around race, racism and ’unconscious bias’

Debra23 July 202123 July 2021

There have been a number of reports over the past year pointing to poor outcomes for black and brown women during pregnancy and childbirth. Benash Nazmeen, Specialist cultural liaison midwife and Illyin Morrison, founder of Mixing up motherhood, discuss the race, rhetoric and “unconscious bias” across maternity services. They explore......

Featured ‘Another Listen’ : Demands for respectful care across global maternity services

Debra19 July 202120 July 2021

Kay King, Executive Director for the White Ribbon Alliance in the UK, highlights the work of the global “What Women Want Campaign” and points to the in depth “Another Listen” report. This gives insightful responses of women’s expectations for humanised and respectful care across the world. In the most recent......

Midwifery Feature Articles

Maternal deaths in the UK related to COVID-19

Paul16 July 2021

There is no doubt the past year has been a major learning curve for clinicians to deal with the effects of a global pandemic, and COVID-19 in particular. Obstetricians, medical teams and midwives have also had to learn how to care for pregnant and postnatal women during this time, to......