46. Rosie Murphy - addressing health inequalities in maternity

Rosie Murphy is a midwife doing fantastic work around health inequalities, including the coproduction workshop we co-led in Croydon.

Our conversation builds on Episode 45 with Noreen Bukhari. I hope Rosie and Noreen will connect and exchange notes on their excellent work in Coventry and Croydon, supporting women from black and ethnic minority communities.

I met and became friends with Rosie through her prestigious Darzi fellowship – Rosie's work was rated as exceptional.

Lemon lightbulbs  🍋💡🍋

• Racism is not just about shouting expletives - it is complex
• We all have unconscious bias
• There is unwillingness to acknowledge systemic racism
• UK institutions are largely built around the needs and understandings of white middle class men
• We need to be culturally aware to understand what matters to people
• Whose Shoes uses imaginative ways to listen to ALL voices
• Trust, being listened to, being taken seriously MATTER
• Education, socio-economic status, ethnicity, body, size affect how likely to be taken seriously
• There is mistrust and distrust of the NHS/ maternity services among some groups
• Maternity services are difficult to navigate!
• The NHS doesn’t need to fix all problems itself
• Use informal communication channels that people trust - hairdressers!
• Social deprivation has many impacts – services need to flex more
• White allyship includes owning our own biases
• Call people in, not call them out
• Lived and learned experience - work TOGETHER for safety of mother and baby
• Women who've had a negative experience find it harder to speak out next time
• HEARD campaign, Croydon – Health, Equity And Racial Disparity
• Find simple ways to show women they are being taken seriously
• Creative ways for people to feedback
• Croydon BME Forum / Asian Resource Centre reach people in imaginative ways - eg community healthcare drop-in session
• Share the learning eg infographics, blogs, Steller Stories , Sway reports
• Connect and learn from others

Links and resources

• Rosie's blogs: Partnering with minoritised women and birthing people to improve maternal and perinatal outcomes: a Darzi journey - Health Innovation Network
• Film - Highly acclaimed Whose Shoes event in Croydon, focusing on health inequalities affecting women and families from Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities
• Gill Phillips' presentation at ‘Birthing with colour’ Nov 2020 -championed by Lewisham and Greenwich maternity team 
• Nobody's Patient' project
• Family Integrated Care report
• The Obs Pod - CQC Maternity Survey 2022
• Gill Phillips' article Patient Experience Library, Jan 2023 capturing 'Whose Shoes' tips and lemon lightbulbs.

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