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News Article
Maternity unit downgraded to ‘inadequate’ and handed warning notice
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A trust has been issued with a warning notice after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) raised concerns about parts of its maternity services. Following a focused inspection at University Hospitals Dorset Foundation Trust in September and November last year, the CQC has rated maternity services at Poole Hospital “inadequate”, down from “good”. The service was also rated “inadequate” in the safety and well-led domains. The CQC report warned that Poole Hospital’s maternity unit did not always have enough midwifery or medical staff to keep mothers and babies safe. The inspectors noted this had led to delays to induction of labour and caesarian sections, including emergency sections. A warning notice was also issued over concerns about the unit’s emergency call bell system, which worked “intermittently” due to poor wireless signal, and processes used to summon help during an emergency. The trust said it had since “taken action to address this risk”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 10 March 2023 -
News Article
Five women sue Texas over abortion access
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Five women who say they were denied abortions in Texas despite facing life-threatening health risks have sued the state over its abortion ban. Texas bars abortions except for medical emergencies, with doctors facing punishment of up to 99 years in jail. According to the lawsuit, doctors are refusing the procedure even in extreme cases out of fear of prosecution. The Center for Reproductive Justice has filed the legal action on behalf of the five women and two healthcare providers that are also plaintiffs. "It is now dangerous to be pregnant in Texas," said Nancy Northup, the centre's president. One of the women, Amanda Zurawski, said she had become pregnant after 18 months of fertility treatments. She had just entered her second trimester when she was told she had dilated prematurely and that the loss of her foetus, whom she and her husband had named Willow, was "inevitable". "But even though we would, with complete certainty, lose Willow, my doctor could not intervene while her heart was still beating or until I was sick enough for the ethics board at the hospital to consider my life at risk," Ms Zurawski said. For three days, trapped in a "bizarre and avoidable hell", Ms Zurawski was forced to wait until her body entered sepsis - also known as blood poisoning - and doctors were allowed to perform an abortion, according to the lawsuit. Ms Zurawski spent three days in intensive care, leaving the hospital after a week, the legal action says. The ordeal has made it harder for her to conceive in future, she said. Read full story Source: BBC News, 8 March 2023 -
News Article
Infighting delays valproate compensation
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Source: The Times. 5 March Shared on Twitter @ShaunLintern -
News Article
Gas and air ban in hospitals leaves mums-to-be in agony
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
When Amy Fantis gave birth to her first child two years ago, the labour was rapid, lasting only about four hours, and she was reliant on gas and air. Her second baby is due in just a few days — but the hospital has, like others around Britain, imposed a ban on the popular form of pain relief. Fantis, 36, from Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, is one of many women affected by the decision of several NHS trusts to suspend the use of the gas because of fears that midwives and doctors have been exposed to unsafe levels for prolonged periods. In some hospitals, levels of the nitrous oxide and oxygen mix are more than 50 times higher than the safe workplace exposure limits. In a survey of more than 16,600 women who gave birth last year, the Care Quality Commission found that 76% of respondents used gas and air at some point during labour. Although short-term use of the gas in childbirth is harmless to women and their babies, long-term exposure for midwives and doctors can affect the body’s ability to absorb vitamin B12, damaging nerves and red blood cells and causing anaemia. It is not believed that any NHS staff have become ill as a result of long-term exposure to gas and air. NHS England and the Health and Safety Executive recently warned other hospitals that they need to check the ventilation on maternity wards and ensure staff are kept safe. NHS England is planning to send out new guidance to trusts on the issue after a series of hospitals had to stop using the gas. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 25 February 2023 -
News Article
Abortion UK: Women 'manipulated' in crisis pregnancy advice centres
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Women are being misled and manipulated about abortion by some crisis pregnancy advice centres in the UK, according to evidence from a BBC Panorama investigation. The centres operate outside the NHS and tend to be registered charities. Most say they don't refer women for abortions, but offer support and counselling for unplanned pregnancies. But the BBC's investigation reveals more than a third of these services give misleading medical information or unethical advice, and sometimes both. Pregnancy counselling is available through the NHS and regulated abortion providers, but searching online, Panorama identified 57 crisis pregnancy advice centres advertising. The BBC decided to investigate after hearing from women who had been to these centres. One said she had been "traumatised" and that the centre had tried to "manipulate" her into not having an abortion. Some 21 centres gave misleading medical information and/or unethical advice about abortion Seven centres said having a termination could lead to "post-abortion syndrome" - a mental health condition likened to post traumatic stress disorder, which is not recognised by the NHS. Eight centres linked abortion to infertility and problems carrying future pregnancies to term. Five centres linked abortion to an increased risk of breast cancer. Leading medic in the field of obstetrics, and director of an abortion provider, Dr Jonathan Lord, said women needed an "informed choice" which required "good quality unbiased information". Read full story Source: BBC News, 27 February 2023 -
News Article
‘Alarming setbacks’ in mortality rates among pregnant women, research shows
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Progress to cut the number of women dying in pregnancy or childbirth has stalled or even reversed in recent years, with a death recorded every two minutes, the United Nations has said. Years of gains had begun to plateau even before the pandemic and there had been “alarming setbacks for women’s health,” according to a new report from several UN agencies, including the World Health Organization (WHO). Maternal mortality rates had fallen widely in the first 15 years of the century, but since 2016, they had only dropped in two UN regions: Australia and New Zealand, and in Central and Southern Asia. The rate went up in Europe and North America by 17% and in Latin America and the Caribbean by 15%. Elsewhere it stagnated. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 23 February 2023 -
News Article
Delay and confusion led to woman's death in labour
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Rana Abdelkarim died at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital in March 2021 after suffering a bleed post-birth. The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) found there were delays in calling for specialist help. Her husband, Modar Mohammednour, said that in March 2021 his wife attended the maternity unit at 39 weeks into her pregnancy for what she thought was a routine check-up. Mr Mohammednour said due to language barriers his wife thought she was going "for a scan and to check on her health" and then "come back home", but in fact she was being sent to be induced. "Immediately" after the labour, Ms Abdelkarim suffered heavy bleeding and her condition deteriorated - something Mr Mohammednour said he was "unaware of", until he was eventually called into the hospital to speak to a doctor. According to the investigation by the HSIB, the obstetric team of senior doctors were not told about the drastic change in her condition for almost 30 minutes. An investigation into her death by the HSIB found that once Ms Abdelkarim had been given a drip to speed up labour, regular support from midwives and assessments could not be given to her because the maternity ward was so busy. It also found there was a 53-minute delay from the point of bleeding to administering the first blood transfusion. HSIB also found Ms Abdelkarim was "uninformed" about the reason for her admission, "consent to induce labour was not given" and because she was thin and small, staff underestimated how much relative blood volume she was losing. Read full story Source: BBC News, 7 February 2023 -
News Article
Breakthrough in preventing hepatitis B transmission from mothers to children
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Hepatitis B transmission from mothers to babies has been eliminated in England, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The WHO elimination target is that less than 2% of babies born to mothers with hepatitis B go on to develop the infection. And data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) shows the figure for England currently stands at 0.1% The UKHSA said progress had been made in tackling the viral infection, which can cause liver damage, cancer and death if left untreated. A six-in-one vaccine is offered to all babies on the NHS when they are eight, 12 and 16 weeks of age. Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said: “We are paving the way for the elimination of hepatitis B and C, with England set to be one of the first countries in the world to wipe out these viruses.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 2 February 2023 . -
News Article
UK facing crisis point in abortion provision, experts say
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The UK is facing a “crisis point” in abortion provision, experts say, with rising demand and restricted access to care in many areas putting unprecedented pressure on struggling NHS services. Healthcare professionals described a “terrifying” state of affairs in which women are travelling hundreds of miles for appointments or waiting several weeks before they are seen. Dr Jonathan Lord, the director of MSI Reproductive Choices UK, a major provider of abortion services, told the Guardian’s Today in Focus podcast: “There is no doubt we are seeing absolutely unprecedented levels of demand at the moment. All providers are reporting they are busier than they have ever been.” Lord, who is also an NHS consultant gynaecologist, said the rise was being driven by “the economic downturn, the cost of living crisis and the ability to access good quality contraception” via GPs and sexual health services, which have been affected by the wider NHS crisis. Clare Murphy, the chief executive at the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), previously said: “The pandemic, and the policies adopted by the government, have had a clear impact on women’s pregnancy choices.” Faced with “economic uncertainty and job insecurity”, women had been forced to make tough decisions, she said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 26 January 2023 -
News Article
Patient experiences of maternity care in England 'deteriorating'
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Fewer women who gave birth in NHS maternity services last year had a positive experience of care compared to 5 years ago, according to a major new survey. The Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) latest national maternity survey report reveals what almost 21,000 women who gave birth in February 2022 felt about the care they received while pregnant, during labour and delivery, and once at home in the weeks following the arrival of their baby. The findings show that while experiences of maternity care at a national level were positive overall for the majority of women, they have deteriorated in the last 5 years. In particular, there was a notable decline in the number of women able to get help from staff when they needed it. Many of the key findings from the survey include a drop in positive interactions with staff and lack of choices about the birth. Just over two-thirds of those surveyed (69%) reported 'definitely' having confidence and trust in the staff delivering their antenatal care. Results were higher for staff involved in labour and birth (78%). In addition, while the majority of women (86%) surveyed in 2022 said they were 'always' spoken to in a way they could understand during labour and birth, this was a decline from 90% who said this in 2019. The proportion of respondents who felt that they were 'always' treated with kindness and understanding while in hospital after the birth of their baby remained relatively high at 71%, however had fallen from 74% in 2017. Just under a fifth of women who responded to the survey (19%) said they were not offered any choices about where to have their baby. Also, less than half (41%) of those surveyed said their partner or someone else close to them was able to stay with them as much as they wanted during their stay in hospital. Read full story Source: Medscape, 13 January 2023 -
News Article“Stop killing us,” protesters across Poland chanted this evening, demanding the legalisation of abortion, after reports reached the media of a pregnant woman’s death in a hospital in May. On Monday, Poland’s patients’ rights ombudsman, Bartłomiej Chmielowiec, said that the John Paul II hospital should have told 33-year-old Dorota Lalik that her life could be saved through an abortion. The hospital violated her rights by withholding the information, the ombudsman ruled. The woman died in the hospital in Nowy Targ, in the south of the country, on 24 May, three days after her admission. “No one told us that we had practically no chance for a healthy baby … The entire time they were giving us false hope that everything will be OK … that [in the worst case] the child will be premature,” Lalik’s husband told Polish media. “No one gave us the choice or the chance to save Dorota, because no one told us her life was at risk.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 14 June 2023
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News ArticleWomen are waiting too long for abortions, according to a major review into a leading UK provider. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) review of the leadership at the abortion provider the British Pregnancy Advisory Service found there were “delays” in “investigating incidents”. The remains of some pregnancies were sometimes not stored properly and there were issues were record keeping, patient monitoring and safe care, the review found. The watchdog also noted “women did not always receive care in a timely way to meet their needs”. The health watchdog said: “In August 2021 we found significant concerns in we found that safe care was not being provided; ineffective safeguarding processes; incomplete risk assessments were not fully completed; observations were not monitored or recorded; records were not fully completed, clear or up to date.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 2 June 2023
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News Article
Male GPs in England less likely to refer patients for IVF, report finds
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Male GPs are less likely to refer eligible patients for IVF, research by a fertility charity suggests, raising concerns about access to NHS-funded treatment. The Progress Educational Trust’s (PET) report highlights “utter confusion” and a lack of knowledge among GPs about eligibility criteria for NHS-funded treatment, which it says is exacerbating the so-called IVF postcode lottery. GPs typically make the initial referral to fertility clinics, meaning that they play a crucial role in access. “For NHS treatment, GPs are the main initial gatekeeper. If you’re not getting pregnant, that’s who you go to for advice and support,” said Sarah Norcross, the director of PET. “It struck me that, when people have a known cause of infertility, male GPs still weren’t passing them on.” The report is based on a survey of 200 GPs and commissioners across England, carried out by an independent research company, which investigated knowledge of national fertility guidelines and criteria they use for referral decisions. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 19 May 2023 -
News Article
Call for national guidelines on discussing past trauma in maternity appointments
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
National guidelines are needed to help maternity care professionals navigate discussions with pregnant women about past traumas, experts have said. Their study, published in the journal Plos One, also found that while talking about previously experienced traumas can be valuable, they can also trigger painful memories if not approached sensitively. The authors also raised concerns about the support available for professionals who may not feel equipped to explore challenging topics such as domestic or sexual abuse, childhood trauma and birth trauma without adequate guidelines or referral pathways. Joanne Cull, a midwife and PhD student at the University of Central Lancashire’s School of Community Health and Midwifery, who is corresponding author on the study, said: “As awareness of the long-term effects of trauma on health and wellbeing has grown, there has been a move toward asking pregnant women about previous trauma, usually at the first appointment. “No national guidance on this has been published in the UK so NHS Trusts have implemented this on a piecemeal approach.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 17 May 2023 -
News ArticleHealthcare providers caring for pregnant patients in the months after the US Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe v Wade have been unable to provide standard medical care in states where abortion is effectively outlawed, leading to delays and worsening and dangerous health outcomes for patients, according to an expansive new report. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling last year, individual reports from patients and providers have shed some light on the wide range of harm facing pregnant women in states where access to abortion care is restricted or outright banned. But a first-of-its-kind report from the University of California San Francisco captures examples from across the country, documenting 50 cases in more than a dozen states that enacted abortion bans within the last 10 months, painting a “stark picture of how the fall of Roe is impacting healthcare in states that restrict abortion,” according to the report’s author Dr Daniel Grossman. “Banning abortion and tying providers’ hands impacts every aspect of care and will do so for years to come,” he said in a statement accompanying the report. “Pregnant people deserve better than regressive policies that put their health and lives at risk.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 16 May 2023
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News Article
Babies are dying because of NHS failings, poverty and inequality, charities warn
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Hundreds of babies are dying unnecessarily because overstretched maternity services are delivering substandard care and struggling to overcome entrenched poverty and racial inequalities, a report has warned. The report by baby loss charities Sands and Tommy’s says the government’s aim to halve the number of stillbirths and neonatal deaths in England by 2025 is stalling, while there is no target in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Stillbirths are creeping up in England after falling in the past decade. Babies dying before and during delivery rose to just over four in every 1,000 births in 2021. Similarly, long-falling rates of neonatal deaths, where newborns die within the first four weeks of birth, are also rising. There were 1.4 deaths of newborn babies for every 1,000 births in 2021, compared with 1.3 in 2020. Robert Wilson, head of the charities’ joint policy unit, said the government and NHS need to make fundamental changes. “The UK is not making enough progress to reduce rates of pregnancy loss and baby death, and there are worrying signs that these rates are now heading in the wrong direction,” he said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 14 May 2023 -
News Article
FDA panel backs first over-the-counter birth control pill in US
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The first non-prescription birth control pill in the US is on the way to approval, after a thumbs-up from an advisory committee of drug regulators. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel's unanimous vote is not binding, but means the agency is likely to formally approve the drug this summer. Opill has been available, but only by prescription, for the past 50 years. The push for over-the-counter access in the US comes amid Republican-led efforts to restrict access to abortion and contraception at the national and state level. Advisors on the panel said they were mostly confident women of all ages would use the drug as appropriate without first consulting a healthcare provider. "In the balance between benefit and risk, we'd have a hard time justifying not taking this action," said chairwoman Maria Coyle, an Ohio State University pharmacist. "The drug is incredibly effective, and I think it will be effective in the over-the-counter realm just as it is in the prescription realm." Read full story Source: BBC News, 10 May 2023 -
News ArticleThe NHS must start sharing figures on mental health checks for pregnant women and new mothers amid gaps in hospital data, top doctors warn. One in six NHS trusts is not able to say whether they screen pregnant women for mental health issues at all, despite national guidelines recommending these checks be done at 10 weeks. Suicide has been recorded has one of the leading drivers in post-natal deaths. The findings come as the latest NHS figures show 51,000 women accessed specialist perinatal mental health services in the 12 months prior this fell short of a target for the NHS to see 66,000 mothers in 2022-23. Access levels have. however, improved from 31,000 a year in March 2022. The Royal College of Psychiatrists has called for NHS England to “urgently” publish data on every hospital in the country showing whether they are carrying out this vital screening. Last November the latest national report into maternal deaths, from researchers led by Oxford University, found suicide was again the leading cause of direct deaths in women a year after the end of their pregnancy. Read full story Source: The Independent, 4 May 2023
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News Article
Poor mental health support during pregnancy risks UK women’s lives
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Women’s lives are being put at risk by substandard mental health care during their pregnancy and in the first year after childbirth in most parts of the UK, a report has found. About one in every five women develops a mental illness at some point during the perinatal period, the stage from pregnancy up to a year after giving birth. However, none of the health and social care boards in Northern Ireland or Wales met the national quality standards created by the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Perinatal Quality Network (PQN). Maternal deaths due to mental health problems are also increasing, with maternal suicide being the lead cause of deaths in the first year after childbirth. Despite this, the report by the Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA) found that many specialist perinatal mental health services do not receive adequate attention or investment, or meet the quality standard of care. The minimum standard of care that women, babies and families should receive is defined as PQN standards type 1. In England, only 16% of the specialist perinatal mental health community teams met these standards. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 2 May 2023 -
News Article
USA: Two hospitals broke law by denying abortion
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
US federal health officials say two hospitals broke the law by denying an abortion to a woman experiencing a life-threatening emergency. The hospitals, in Kansas and Missouri, are now being probed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The investigation is the first of its kind to be launched since the Supreme Court invalidated the national right to an abortion last year. After the Supreme Court ruling, the White House warned hospitals that doctors must provide abortions if the health of the patient is at risk - even in states that have banned abortion. "Fortunately, this patient survived. But she never should have gone through the terrifying ordeal she experienced in the first place," HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement seen by BBC News. "We want her, and every patient out there like her, to know that we will do everything we can to protect their lives and health, and to investigate and enforce the law to the fullest extent of our legal authority, in accordance with orders from the courts." Read full story Source: BBC News, 1 May 2023 -
News Article
Failure to recognise ectopic pregnancy causing women’s deaths, says expert
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Women are dying or suffering avoidable harm because of a failure to recognise ectopic pregnancy, one of the country’s leading experts on maternal health has said. Speaking to the Guardian, Prof Marian Knight of the University of Oxford, who leads a national research programme on maternal deaths, called for action to improve diagnosis of the acute, life-threatening condition, in which a fertilised egg implants itself outside the womb, normally in the fallopian tube. Ectopic pregnancies are never viable and if left untreated can result in the tube rupturing, causing potentially fatal internal bleeding. “We could prevent more women from dying from ectopic pregnancy because of lacking of basic recognition and management of the condition,” said Knight. The warning comes as new data obtained by freedom of information request suggests that dozens of women have experienced “severe harm” after being admitted to hospital with ectopic pregnancies in the past five years. The Mbrrace report, published last year, said eight women died from ectopic pregnancies between 2018 and 2020, all but one of whom had received suboptimal treatment. In three instances, better care might have saved their lives, the report concluded. “There’s no doubt that in the [maternal deaths] inquiry we are still seeing the same messages of ectopic pregnancy not being recognised,” said Knight. “That people either don’t pick up on the fact that they’re pregnant or get single-minded about one diagnosis.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 1 May 2023 -
News Article
Alternative to epidural recommended for women in labour
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Women in labour should be offered an alternative to an epidural spinal block injection, say new draft guidelines for the NHS. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is recommending remifentanil, which is a fast-acting morphine-like drug given into a vein. Women control the medication themselves, by pressing a button to get more of the drug for pain relief. A timer ensures the user cannot administer too much of it. Women who decide to try remifentanil and do not like it could still decide to have an epidural instead if there is no medical reason why they should not. They can use gas and air, also called Entonox, which is a mix of oxygen and nitrous oxide, at the same time. NICE says having remifentanil as a treatment option has advantages - it might enable women to be more mobile than with an epidural, which makes the legs numb and weak, for example. Evidence suggests fewer epidurals might mean fewer births using instruments like forceps and ventouse vacuum suction, says NICE. Read full story Source: BBC News, 25 April 2023 -
News Article
Herpes deaths: NHS trust lied about virus links, inquest hears
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The mother of a young woman who died with herpes said she was "disgusted" with an NHS trust which "lied" about the potential cause of the virus. Kim Sampson and Samantha Mulcahy died with herpes after the same obstetrician at the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Trust carried out their caesareans. Yvette Sampson's daughter had been "fit and healthy" until she gave birth on 3 May 2018, an inquest has heard. She said the trust had lied about links between the two mothers' deaths. They were treated by the same surgeon and midwife six weeks apart, neither of whom were tested for herpes, the inquest in Maidstone was told. Ms Sampson said her daughter had been "in agony" from 3 May when she gave birth to her second child, until she died on 22 May. She told the inquest she had received "poor treatment" by midwives at the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital (QEQM) in Margate, which she felt also "contributed" to her daughter's death. Ms Sampson was initially denied a Caesarean and instead told to push for almost three hours, despite repeatedly telling midwives that "something wasn't right" and "clinging to the bed in agony", her mother said. Read full story Source: BBC News, 20 April 2023 -
News Article
Mifepristone: US Supreme Court delays abortion pill access decision
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The US Supreme Court has extended until Friday a temporary block on limits to access of a popular abortion pill. A Texas judge suspended approval of abortion drug mifepristone on 7 April, questioning its safety. Parts of that decision were upheld on appeal, prompting the Biden administration to make an emergency request to the Supreme Court. It's the most significant such case since the Supreme Court last year ended the nationwide right to abortion. The pill - used in more than half of abortions in the US - was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) more than two decades ago. Critics say that by overriding the FDA's approval, the court in Texas has usurped the federal health agency's remit to regulate food, medicine, and medical devices. Legal experts warn the ruling opens the door for challenges to other approved medicines in the US and could also stifle development of future drugs. Read full story Source: BBC News, 20 April 2023 -
News Article
‘They didn’t believe I was in labour’ says Black mother ‘ignored’ by midwives
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The Women and Equalities Committee in a recent report has challenged the government over failures to address inequalities in maternity care which have led to Black women dying at four times the rate of white women. Tinuke Awe, 31, was left ‘traumatised’ and forced to go without pain relief after midwives didn’t believe she was in labour. Ms Awe, was induced after experiencing late pre-eclampsia while pregnant with her first child in 2017. She said: “Pre-eclampsia can be life-threatening for mum and baby, and it could’ve been fatal if I wasn’t treated. I was told I couldn’t leave the hospital and had to be induced". “They said the hormones could take 24 hours to work, but my labour happened really quickly and when I told the midwife she didn’t even believe I was in labour.” “I felt so overlooked and it was horrible how nobody listened to me,” she added. “I ended up having to have an assisted delivery which isn’t what I wanted, but it could’ve been avoided if someone had acknowledged I was in labour rather than ignore me. I just felt so unimportant.” Ms Aew alongside Clotilde Abe set up the charity Five X More. The organisation helps give advice and empower Black women to make informed choices during pregnancy and after childbirth. Five X More hope that the testimonials of the women they support can be used to show that better outcomes are possible with their ‘five steps for self-advocacy‘ being used to encourage women to ask for things like a second opinion. Read full story Source: The Independent, 18 April 2023 Read our interview with Tinuke Awe on the hub: Five X More campaign: Improving maternal mortality rates and health outcomes for black women
