Better Births is one of eight improvement and transformation programmes across Bradford District & Craven. We work collaboratively across sectors and organisations, to achieve our vision: “Working together to improve experiences and outcomes of the pregnancy and birth journey across Bradford District and Craven”.

The report of the One Better Births Programme (Document “C”) will highlight some of the key achievements of the past year and outline our future plans to improve the outcomes for maternity care across our place and reduce disparities in experiences by working as a whole system. It will also cover our place-based response to the Ockenden and MBRRACE-UK report recommendations.

Recommended –

That Members comment on and note the report

(Abbie Wild – 07861899895)

Better Births is one of eight improvement and transformation programmes across Bradford District & Craven. It works collaboratively across sectors and organisations, to achieve its vision: “Working together to improve experiences and outcomes of the pregnancy and birth journey across Bradford District and Craven”.

The report of the One Better Births Programme (Document “C”) highlights some of the key achievements of the past year and outline our future plans to improve the outcomes for maternity care across our place and reduce disparities in experiences by working as a whole system. It further covers its place-based response to the Ockenden and MBRRACE-UK report recommendations.

Representatives from the Bradford Teaching Hospitals Foundation were in attendance and with the invitation of the Chair, a synopsis of the report was provided to the committee. It was explained that the Better Births programme comprised of four workstreams, each led by a key representative from across foundation. The leads brought a wealth of experience and expertise to the programme. The workstreams aimed to address the most important aspects of maternity care, as identified by local and national recommendations including those of Ockenden and MBRRACE-UK. The workstreams and their respective chairs were as follows:

·         Health Inequalities – GP partner and Associate Clinical Director of Maternity & Women’s Health for Braford District & Craven;

·         Safer Maternity Care – Specialist Midwife for Safer Maternity Care, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (BTHFT);

·         Choice, Personalisation & Workforce – Associate Director of Nursing and Quality, Bradford District & Craven; and,

·         Every Baby Matters – Public Health Consultant for Children and Young People, Bradford Metropolitan District Council.

In terms of background, the Better Births improvement and transformation programme was established in 2020, with maternity services being identified as a key priority area by the Health and Care Partnership Board. Bradford was the 13th most deprived district of 317 in England. Almost a quarter of children in Bradford were classified as living in poverty. Bradford district had an ethnically diverse population and the largest proportion of people of Pakistani ethnic origin in England. There was a wide variation in the ethnic makeup of the wards across the district, in some cases such as Manningham and Toller “ethnic minority” groups in fact account for the majority (up to 80%) where some were below 10%, in areas such as Ilkley and Wharfedale. Social inequality and ethnicity had a direct link to poor maternal and infant health outcomes. Addressing health inequalities and focussing our efforts on the areas of greatest needs were at the forefront of the Better Births programme. Some of the key drivers behind the programme include: Infant mortality and stillbirth rates which were significantly higher than the national average, incidence of low birthweight babies significantly worse than the national average, and breastfeeding rates below the national average.

A question and answer session ensued:

·         It was absolutely crucial that appropriate staff reached out to specialists in channelling the flow of enormous knowledge for the purpose of widely accessible healthcare systems. On this note, what conversations and training had been addressed to aid the knowledge and resources already in place to be made more widely available?

o   Focusing on reaching out and initiating contacts within all organisations would be a strict priority. The service had all intentions in continuing to produce partnership working throughout the sector. In regards to the subject of training, the service was in its early stages of looking at the cultural competency training, but this work stream was something that had already been added to the list of responsibilities to action.

o   These areas of work would be a major step towards being made acquainted with the availability of vast services accessible for all staff across the service for the sake of communities;

·         What mechanisms does the service intend to put into place in response to the newly immigration laws?

o   Further to statistics, the risk of death and pregnancies was five times more likely for Black, Asian and mixed ethnicity women in the most deprived areas, almost double the national average. On a matter of inequality between different population groups, structural differences were embedded within society organisations based on policies, rules or laws that may occasionally indirectly influence resulting to an unfair society, common example being support services to communities.

o   In March 2018, the service held an event on the theme of Inequalities Intense Care, which had been attended by national experts as part of the Council’s efforts to reduce the detrimental effects resulting from inequalities effects. The event had captured an inspiring thought process amongst the professionals.

o   The service had an additional resource for limited families, designed to raise awareness, reducing health issues and encourage access to support services.

o   Information on accessible services was also published directly online on the Council’s main website. Furthermore, officers were working tirelessly to ensure the correct updated information was readily available and all information shared by other companies was accessible through a range of different languages;

·         Information on work addressing different cultures in communities was sought?

o   Work around competence training (including cultural based), awareness campaigns, world citizenship, updating skills and knowledge to increase awareness was a project undertaken last year in response to combat resilience. Support services had worked on real they felt isolated when support services are working on real objectives for creating savings to reduce isolation for members of communities, increased research networks and provided vital services including breastfeeding. The service had been working towards getting the foundational building blocks in place to increase patient and professional level work settings; and,

·         Clarify was sought on the extract within the report on Parental Mental Health?

o   On a national scale, maternal suicide was the leading cause of pregnancy related deaths in the first year following childbirth. The service was aware of suicide remaining as the leading health concerns and therefore the work being addressed was to prioritise improvement in accessing and have in place volunteer Parental Maternal Health Services.

o   Moving forward, a cross-sector Perinatal Mental Health event was held in April 2022 by Better Births. Key professionals and a wide range of stakeholders from across the district had attended and a series of actions were identified. One of which was to develop a Perinatal Mental Health resource for staff including an at-a-glance referral pathway & services directory.

The Chair thanked the representatives from the Bradford Teaching Hospitals Foundation for attending and giving a greater detailed insight on the ongoing works with the foundation. The committee echoed the sentiments of the Chair.

Resolved: -

That officers be thanked for the report and that an update be presented in twelve months.

Action: Joint Programme Director, Act as One Programme