Systematic exploration of local reviews of the care of maternal deaths in the UK and Ireland between 2012 and 2014: a case note review study

Role of ethnicity in high-level obstetric clinical incidents: a review of cases from a large UK NHS maternity unit

Introduction

Women from ethnic minority groups are at more risk of adverse outcomes in pregnancy compared with those from white British groups; suboptimal care may contribute to this increased risk. This study aimed to examine serious clinical incidents at two maternity units to explore causative factors for women from ethnic minorities and determine whether these differed from white women.

Methods

A retrospective review was conducted of all serious incidents (n=36) occurring in a large National Health Service maternity provider (~14 000 births per annum) between 2018 and 2020. Data were collected from case records for variables which could mediate the association between ethnicity and adverse outcome. The incident reviews were blinded and reviewed by two independent investigators and data regarding root causes and contributory factors were extracted.

Results

Fourteen of the 36 incidents (39%) occurred in women from minority ethnic groups, which is comparable to the maternity population. Women involved in serious clinical incidents frequently had pre-existing medical or obstetric complications. Booking after 12 weeks’ gestation occurred more frequently in women from minority ethnic groups than in the background population. There were differences in root causes of serious incidents between groups, a lack of situational awareness was the most frequent cause in white women and staff workload was most frequent in women from minority ethnic groups. Communication issues and detection of deterioration were similar between the two groups.

Discussion

Although there was no difference in the proportion of serious incidents between the groups, there were differences in medical and pregnancy-related risk factors between groups and in the root causes identified. Efforts are needed to ensure equity of early access to antenatal care and to ensure that there is adequate staffing to ensure that women’s needs are met; this is particularly cogent when there are complex medical or social needs.

Strengths and weaknesses of national confidential case reviews of maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality

Confidential case reviews have been established as a means to improve the quality of maternity care for several decades. Impacts of these programmes, while difficult to demonstrate, have been observed on maternal and neonatal mortality rates, maternity policy and clinical practice. At a national level, maternal and newborn case review programmes identify messages to improve care through multidisciplinary review of medical records of all, or a sample, of mothers and infants who have died or have a specific morbidity. The major strength of such national programmes is that they allow lessons to be identified to improve care at all levels of the health system from national government policy to individual clinical practice. However, strengthening translation of recommendations into action, whether through a more active link with implementation processes or further development of dissemination strategies grounded in implementation science, is an important continuing focus.