Universities to be asked to adopt new NMC ‘anti-racism principles’

Midwifery programmes across the UK will be given new ‘anti-racism principles’ to embed within their curricula, as part of efforts to tackle ‘stark disparities’ in outcomes for Black and Asian mothers.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has announced that a set of new principles will be designed over the next few weeks and that all universities will be asked to adopt them from the start of the next academic year.

The anti-racism principles will be co-designed with Black, Asian and minority ethnic people with lived experience of poor outcomes in maternity services and aim to help the next generation of midwives ‘better ensure equitable outcomes’.

The regular said the focus was on ensuring all universities delivering midwifery programmes make ‘anti-racism, bias awareness and cultural curiosity, safety and respect more explicit in their curricula’.

Today’s announcement from the NMC comes after figures released by MBRRACE-UK last year showed that Black women are three times more likely to die during pregnancy or in the immediate postnatal period, and maternal mortality rates for Asian women are 1.3 times as high compared with White women.

Figures also show that Black babies are over twice as likely to be stillborn as white babies, with Asian babies 50% more likely to be stillborn.

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Supported by the government and the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), the new principles hope to tackle the ‘Black maternal health crisis’ and should be published by late spring, the NMC said.

Paul Rees, NMC chief executive and registrar, said: ‘Every day, thousands of midwives deliver safe, kind and equitable care that brings joy to women and families across the UK.

‘However, for far too many families, that has not been the case, with absolutely devastating consequences.

‘The evidence is clear that racism within maternity services compounds the problem. Black and Asian women are more likely to die during pregnancy or in the immediate postnatal period, and their babies are more likely to be stillborn.

‘The situation is totally unacceptable and is a national emergency. To help tackle the Black maternal health crisis we’re calling on our education partners to embed the new principles which will enable us to embed anti-racism, bias awareness and cultural curiosity, safety and respect across all midwifery education in the four countries of the UK.

‘We hope that this initiative will make a real difference, meaning that Black, Asian and minority ethnic mothers, babies and families have a far better experience of maternity care across the four countries of the UK.’

Gill Walton, RCM’s chief executive, said the new principles were a ‘vital step in the right direction’.

‘We are particularly pleased that the lived experience of Black, Asian and minority ethnic women will be central to the design of these principles and we look forward to working closely with the NMC to ensure they are as robust and effective as possible,’ she said.

‘No woman’s outcomes should be determined by her race or ethnicity.’

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The NMC is also aiming to produce anti-racism principles for nursing programmes along a similar timeline.

Professor Nicola Ranger, general secretary and chief executive for the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), added: ‘By embedding anti-racism, unconscious bias awareness, and cultural competence training further into the learning of all midwives and nurses, we give our next generation of registrants the best chance of eradicating these unacceptable health inequalities once and for all.

‘These new principles can be a vital step in bringing much-needed change in nursing and midwifery – whatever your race you always need to feel safe, cared for and listened to.’

Public health minister Sharon Hodgson added: ‘The stark disparities in outcomes for Black and Asian mothers and babies are unacceptable, and tackling them is a priority for this government.

‘I welcome the NMC’s commitment to embedding anti-racism principles across midwifery education, and I’m determined that we use every lever available to close these devastating gaps in maternal outcomes.’

The new principles come amid the independent National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation into maternity and neonatal services in England. Interim findings published in February revealed that services are failing to deliver consistent, safe and equitable care, with staffing pressures and structural racism among the most serious concerns.

The NMC recently launched a Midwifery Data Dashboard to help the maternity care sector to ‘understand and address recurring themes when midwifery care goes wrong’.

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It aims to provide data and insight from the regulator’s fitness to practise processes, allowing users to see the most common allegation types involving midwives.

Lead midwives at NMC-approved universities and education leads at the nursing regulator also conducted a review after alleged reports suggested that student midwives ‘do not have the required knowledge of midwifery practice at the point of initial registration’.

They did not identify any concerns and concluded that students are being taught ‘progressively’.