Concerns over racial inequalities in maternity care - Amisha the Birthworker on Sky News
O Monday 16th February 2026, Amisha the Birthworker was on Sky News speaking about racial inequalities in maternity care. Watch the full clip below.
Watch Amisha Abeyawardene on Sky News discussing racial inequalities in UK maternity care — why systemic racism harms Black & brown birthing people and what must change.
Birthrights report, “Systemic Racism, Not Broker bodies”, was published in 2022 after a year long enquiry. The report challenged the long-held belief that there is something wrong with black and brown bodies that was leading to poorer outcomes in comparison to their white counterparts. What we found in the report were instances of systemic racism in the policies, guidelines and structures of maternity care.
Rather than interrogating the systems and structures of the NHS that are leading to poorer outcomes, Black and brown women and birthing people are often blamed for these outcomes. The law around autonomy states that women and birthing people have the right to receive evidence based information around the benefits, risks and alternatives associated with any interventions being presented to them. We know from our work that this is not always happening, and many people, especially Black and brown women and birthing people are more likely to receive this blanket care, rather than individualised person-centred care.
There has been some improvement with the NHS health and race observatory releasing new guidance on how to detect jaundice in babies with darker skin tones.
However, Black women are still twice as likely to die and maternal mortality is the highest it’s been in 20 years.
We also know in recent years maternity units are facing severe understaffing and and under resourcing. Midwives working conditions are women and birthing people’s birthing conditions. So if midwives are working in stressful environments with inadequate training, they are unable to have proper informed consent discussions with women and birthing people, to truly listen to them and give compassionate care.
What needs to change?
There needs to be uch greater of what human rights are and that women and birthing people have the right to dignity, autonomy, privacy and equity.
There should be more human rights training for staff so that they can be empowered to advocate for women and birthing people. We also need safe staffing levels for midwives and psychologically safe working conditions. There needs to be clear pathways for reporting racism and these should be dealt with swiftly. There should be no repercussions for people who speak up because speaking up is a key factor in patient safety. Currently we know there is a huge culture of blame and fear of professional liability. Healthcare professionals need a supportive working environment where they are empowered to give compassionate, person centred care.
