Paper Example on Barriers to Maternity Care Access for the Ethnic Minority in the United Kingdom

Chapter 1: Introduction

Optimum care during pregnancy and labor is of complete importance in every culture. The objective of this dissertation is to critically analyze the barriers and issues ethnic minority women encounter when accessing maternity services. For an individual to provide unbiased analysis, it is essential to recognize that ethnic minority groups in the United Kingdom are identified as being within a vulnerable group, often struggling in society from numerous factors. The conditions include; low socioeconomic status, unemployment, lower earnings, housing, education, as well as inequalities in health and access to maternity services (Rogers et al., 1999). Ethnically diverse migrant women are increasingly resettling in developed countries such as the United Kingdom, so when caring for them during pregnancy, labor and the postnatal period, numerous psychological, social and biological factors need to be addressed and taken into consideration by maternity staff. Providing maternity provisions to support ethnic women regardless of ethnicity, religion, color, and language is fundamental to meet the demands of the increasing racial population. Research indicates that people of ethnic origin that require health services in the UK are subject to barriers which prevent them obtaining good quality accessible care (Malin and Gissler, 2009). Midwives are at the centre of the provision of maternity care and influence to improve the health of ethnic minority women in pregnancy (Aquino, 2014).

In England and Wales, according to The Office of National Statistics (2013), considerable inequalities in infant mortality rates are known to exist between white and ethnic minority groups (Appendix 1). There is an infant mortality rate with White Other being the lowest at 2.6 deaths per 1,000 live births, which is statistically significantly lower than the other ethnicities. Additionally, more newborns of migrant women are admitted to neonatal care units (Merten et al., 2007). Both results could be an indicator of poorer access to maternity care. Disparities in infant mortality rates among ethnic groups are to some extent, down to avoidable differences in access to health care and education. The issues surrounding poor maternity access will be explored.

The primary theme that was identified to be the main barrier within the majority of the literature was communication' and the quality of communication.' Communication between maternity health professionals and women is at the centre of all maternity services. For non-English speaking women who do not have English as their first language are immediately at a greater and more vulnerable risk of poorer birth outcomes (Lewis, 2012). The second theme was expectations of care.' Ethnic minority women that have not encountered maternity services before or are new residents of the United Kingdom have little understanding surrounding the National Health Service structure, (Aquino, 2014). When expectations are not met, and there is insufficient knowledge of maternity care, a woman can be left feeling dissatisfied, and access to care can be restricted.

Although communication' and expectations of care' were the two main themes that were recognized and focused on within this literature review, there was a multitude of other concepts and common themes that ran throughout all the dissertation. The theme includes; perception of self, socioeconomic factors, complex needs, worries of embarrassment, isolation among others

Literature review is deemed to be valuable within health services as it provides an extensive amount of evidence and information to assists service users with evidence-based care. As required by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, it is a professional requirement to practice with current evidence and sustain knowledge of up to date research so a rationalized critical view can be utilized (NMC, 2015). In contrast, the reader should consider that the reviews could enclose some bias to fit the author's opinion so therefore could wrongly influence the reader's views and opinions (Aveyard, 2010).

Problem Statement

In line with the healthcare experience as well as the inequitable outcome for black minority (BME) ethnic groups in the UK, the primary problems to address in this research is the challenges that acts as a barrier for the minority group to have better access to healthcare as compared native white counterparts living in the UK. The observable concern is that appropriate research concerning the challenges that the BME faces in the UK have not been conducted to come up with a better solution. The problems that the black and minority group faces when looking for health care services in the various hospital within the United Kingdome are several. The challenges include; language barrier, feeling cared for,' access to information and services,' negative self-perception perception, lack of continuity of care,' poor care environment, socioeconomic factors, worries of embarrassment and isolation. Therefore, the research will focus on how the above mention barriers will be solved so that both the BME and the native white living across the entire UK can have equal access to care to minimize the maternity mortality rate.

Purpose of the Study

The primary goal of this research is to uncover the barriers to access better health care among the Black and Minority Ethnics in the UK. For these problems to be addressed, bringing both the ethnic minority women, native white women, workers of various care facilities, government and various health agencies is much essential. Giving each side chances to explains the problems that hinder access to better health is a critical step in solving the issue. It is anticipated that such critical initiative is vital in coming up with a better solution to the challenges affecting access to better healthcare thereby reducing the incidence of maternal mortality rate among the women and children. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to look at the driving force that can be used to solve these inequalities and health challenges.

Research Question

From the study of the barrier to access of better health care services among the BME living in the UK, a different question can be raised to help solve the problems that are negatively and severely affecting women during and after maternal services. The question can assist in developing practical research that proposes solution and mechanism to be used in eradicating the challenges. The following are the research questions;

How the loves of the women from ethnic minority community living in the United King be saved due to poor access to health care?

What is the primary barrier to access to better healthcare for black and minority ethnic women living in the United Kingdom?

How can the Nursing and Midwifery Council together with other health and government agency reduce the maternal mortality rate among the BME women residing in the United Kingdom?

Chapter 2: Literature Review

For the majority of the women from ethnic minority living in the United Kingdom, the challenges of having access to better health services are commonplace. Majority of the women desire to have better, easy as well as affordable health care services to health their experience better pregnancy outcomes as their native white counterparts. However, that is still not the case to a significant population of the BME and other ethnic groups. According to the Henderson, (2013, p.196), close to a quarter of individual giving birth in Wales as well as England are women from minority ethnic members. The article reveals that these women often experience poor pregnancy outcomes as compared to the White Women (Henderson, 2013, p.196).

Additionally, the Henderson (2013, p.196) argues that in most cases women from the minority groups living across the United Kingdom have rampant cases of poor maternal care experience and sometimes encounter stereotyping as well as racism. According to the article, out of the women who were interviewed, a total of 24,319 completed the survey as compared to the white women. The Hen...