Late attendance 'driving trust’s high stillbirth rate'

Delays in seeking help among women from deprived communities or with poor English are a major contributor to high stillbirth rates, according to a review by a trust trying to reduce deaths.

A report by the Calderdale care partnership quality group, part of West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board, said that in Calderdale and Huddersfield Foundation Trust’s two maternity units “reduced foetal movements is a significant cross cutting theme… [and] delay in attendance to the hospital to seek midwifery support and advice”.

It said delays were more common among women who lived in areas of higher deprivation or where English was not their preferred language. They were less likely to contact a hospital midwife and more likely to reach out to their GP or family when they were concerned during pregnancy.

Benash Nazmeen, an assistant professor of midwifery at Bradford University and a co-founder of the Association of South Asian Midwives, warned trusts against “making assumptions” about communities without understanding “the realities of their lives”.

She said: “For example, worse outcomes for Black and Asian mothers and babies have previously been attributed to higher levels of deprivation and complex care needs.

“Recent MBRRACE reports and the 2022 Confidential Inquiry into Maternal deaths show that these disparities persist even in affluent areas and that complex care needs are not exclusive to any one ethnic group.

”We cannot continue to rely on outdated assumptions. Instead, we must work collaboratively with communities to build trust, relationships and locally informed solutions to address the barriers which remain poorly understood.”

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Source: HSJ, 14 July 2025