Maternity care programme for under-served communities set to start
A NEW programme to help improve maternity and neonatal care experiences for women and families in under-served communities across the region is set to begin this month – ahead of a major 'listening event' in Rotherham later in the year.
The collaboration between South Yorkshire’s Community Foundation and NHS South Yorkshire is supported through the NHS Maternity Care Research Small Grants Programme, and aims to ensure “voices from communities with the poorest maternity outcomes are heard and embedded into future service design.”
Through the programme, SYCF will work with grassroots community organisations across Rotherham, Barnsley, Doncaster, and Sheffield to gather lived experiences from women who have used maternity and neonatal services within the last three years.
It will focus on engaging families from communities which often face barriers to good maternity outcomes, including young parents, people living in high-deprivation areas, Somali families, Romanian communities, and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.
Parents with complex medical conditions, such as diabetes or epilepsy, will also be a key focus for the NHS South Yorkshire’s Local Maternity and Neonatal System project.
Community organisations selected through the grant programme will begin engagement work this month.
Their findings will be shared at a major regional listening event at Gulliver’s Valley in Rotherham in the Spring, before being used to shape NHS South Yorkshire’s new involvement strategy.
Ceris Harrison, project coordinator - maternity transformation, for NHS South Yorkshire, said: “We know some women in South Yorkshire continue to face inequalities in maternity care and are committed to changing that.
“To design services that truly work for everyone, we need to listen to the communities who are least heard.
“This partnership with SYCF will help us gather honest, meaningful feedback so that maternity care in South Yorkshire can be co-designed with the people who use it.”
Jess O’Neill, grants and partnerships manager at SYCF, said: “We are proud to be supporting this vital piece of research and community engagement.
“With almost 40 years of experience engaging with local communities, we are uniquely placed to gather the real stories that often go unheard.
“By working together with the NHS, we can ensure these voices lead to tangible improvements in maternity care for families across South Yorkshire.”