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A midwife has won an award for her achievements in diversifying maternity care for expectant mothers from ethnic minority groups.
Patricia Mugwangi, a midwife at Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, was recognised by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) at an awards ceremony held this month.
She said: "This award is for all women who are from ethnic minorities. As a midwife and a professional advocate midwife, I am the voice for the voiceless and those women that are not getting the care they deserve because of the colour of their skin.
"I am happy we are now talking about the disparities in maternity and now we are doing something about it."
The award is part of the region's celebration of Black History Month in October and this year had the theme 'Anti-Racism – a moment for literacy and transformation'.
Cess Wigley, Black History Month lead co-ordinator for the RCN in the South East, said: "We are delighted to present this award to Patricia in recognition of her exceptional achievements.
"She has been nominated for promoting anti-racist behaviour and challenging bias, and for her instrumental role in establishing a vibrant and diverse MEDI (Maternity, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion) Focus Group.
"Her proactive approach has also included a host of other initiatives to engage and raise awareness among staff. She has increased knowledge and understanding around the BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) agenda and has given staff the confidence to question and challenge assumptions and myths in clinical practice."
Patricia's MEDI initiative launched in November 2020 and started as a tea trolley where the team would go around the wards and ask questions to find out how they could do better in raising awareness for BAME patients.
Examples included having translators available in person and over the phone for those who do not speak English, sending out reminder emails and putting up posters in the community.
The focus group aimed to support BAME women in getting high quality maternity care, provide services and care that is appropriate, sensitive and non-discriminatory and promote diversity, equality and inclusion.
Patricia, who has worked for Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust for 14 years, spoke on dispelling disparities in care saying: "We need to make sure to sit down and address these issues.
"I have always loved looking after women who live in deprived areas and women from Ethnic minorities."
The midwife of 25 years highlighted the inequalities that have been furthered since Covid and said 56% of pregnant women who tested positive were from BAME groups and faced greater health differences through the pandemic.
The trust is also running cultural competency study days which include lessons on communication such as asking a mother how to pronounce their name. Patricia added: "Your name is your identity. We need to get it right.
"We need to be clear and have a conversation."
Some 60,000 RCN members from across the region were invited to nominate colleagues who had made a real difference in the delivery of healthcare.
To find out more information on MEDI click here or email dgn-tr.medi@nhs.net for non-urgent queries.
