Ministers refuse to set target for ending maternal deaths disparity

In response to a Commons women and equalities committee report, published on Friday, ministers said a “concrete target does not necessarily focus resource and attention through the best mechanisms”.

The response added: “We do not believe a target and strategy is the best approach towards progress.”

According to the latest figures, black women are nearly four times more likely to die from childbirth than white women. Asian women are nearly two times more likely, while women from the most deprived areas are 2.5 times more likely to die than those in the least deprived areas.

The government said disparities will be monitored through local maternity and neonatal systems, which are partnerships comprising commissioners, providers and local authorities.

A recommendation to increase the annual budget for maternity services to up to £350m per year, backed by the now chancellor Jeremy Hunt, and maternity investigator Donna Ockenden, was also rejected.

Ministers also said NHS England’s three-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services “will ensure the right numbers of the right staff” are available.

The government did partially accept one recommendation. NHSE is set to carry out a “scoping exercise” on a review of training curricula and continuing professional development requirements for all maternity staff, although no further details were given.

It was also agreed the women and equalities committee would be given six-monthly updates on the progress of the maternity disparities taskforce, which was set up by equalities minister Maria Caulfield last year.

However, minutes and metrics to gauge its success will not be provided. The government said publishing the meetings’ minutes could disrupt their “open dynamic”, and be “to the detriment of the goals of the taskforce”, if they were open to external scrutiny.

Response ‘stops short’

Caroline Nokes, who chairs the women and equalities committee, welcomed the government’s commitment to ending disparities but felt its response “stops short” of the significant action needed to end them.

The Conservative MP for Romsey and Southampton North added: “Our inquiry clearly found that without further funding, it will not be possible to implement measures such as continuity of care and to combat inequalities, due to considerable staffing shortages across maternity services.

“We remain very concerned and will continue to apply pressure on the government to make progress to end disparities once and for all.”

Habib Naqvi, chief executive of the NHS Race and Health Observatory, said he was “disappointed” not to see the government set targets to reduce “unacceptable” racial disparities in maternal health.

Dr Naqvi added: “These are stark statistics. It is critical that, as part of our shared commitment to address maternal inequalities, we focus on robust evaluation of local interventions designed to tackle ethnic and racial inequalities in maternal health, with adequate data recording and specific, measurable targets to close the unacceptable inequalities faced by black, Asian and ethnic minority women in the UK.”