Maternal Care Change Package: Proven Approaches to Advance Equity
Practical resources to help organizations apply anti-racism principles and quality improvement methods to reduce inequities in maternal health outcomes and experiences.
Highlights
- Change ideas contributed to nearly halving postpartum hemorrhage rates in Black women from 13.7% to 7.9%.
- Postpartum hemorrhaging in Black and minority ethnic women reduced from 12% to 9%.
- Average gestation week at which GDM has been diagnosed in South Asian patients has decreased by 7.8% from 26.9 weeks to 24.8 weeks.
- Increased number of South Asian women receiving an HbA1c test at booking, from 55% to 87%.
Reducing inequities in maternal health outcomes requires intentional efforts to address the impact of racism on care delivery, patient experience, and health outcomes. To support this work, the NHS Race & Health Observatory (RHO), in partnership with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and the Health Foundation, developed a series of Anti-Racism Quality Improvement (QI) Change Packages – curated collections of evidence-based change ideas, concepts, and operational measures – through the Maternal and Neonatal Learning and Action Network (LAN).
These change packages combine the NHS Race & Health Observatory's Seven Anti-Racism Principles with IHI's Model for Improvement to help organizations identify inequities, test changes, measure progress, and improve outcomes for women and birthing people from racially and ethnically minoritized communities.
The change packages focus on three areas identified by participating improvement teams:
Gestational Diabetes
Perinatal Mental Health
Postpartum Hemorrhage
Each change package includes:
A clear improvement aim and driver diagram
Evidence-informed change concepts and change ideas
Measurement guidance and example measures
Practical recommendations for testing, implementation, spread, and scale
Lessons learned from participating Learning and Action Network teams
Organizations can use these resources to accelerate improvement efforts, strengthen equity-focused quality improvement initiatives, and advance safer, more equitable maternal healthcare.
Related Resources
NHS Race & Health Observatory Maternal and Neonatal Learning and Action Network (LAN)
Maternal Health Equity Blog Series
Download Maternal Care Change Package
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