Understanding local themes for Black maternity service users booking late (over 16 weeks’ gestation)
Overview
Organisation: Frimley Health ICB; NHS Frimley Health Foundation Trust
Organisation type: NHS Trust; Local Maternity and Neonatal System
NICE recommends that the first antenatal (booking) appointment takes place by 10+0 weeks of pregnancy. Locally, there was anecdotal concerns that Black women access antenatal care later than other ethnic groups. This means that this cohort miss national screening recommendations and referrals to maternal medicine networks as well as early identification of fetal development concerns and associated risk factors, which may or may not have affected the poor outcomes highlighted in the 2024 MBRACE report (PDF only).
The aim of this work at Frimley Health Foundation Trust was to explore if and why Black women book their first antenatal appointment after 16 weeks of pregnancy, to influence future quality improvement projects around preconception and antenatal care in line with our Perinatal Equity Strategy (2022) priorities.
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