Have Your Say - Experiences with 999 or NHS 111 during pregnancy

Blog - 28 January 2025

Calling all women in Barking and Dagenham, Redbridge and Havering! Healthwatch Barking and Dagenham are working with London Ambulance Service to improve women's experience of emergency maternity care.

Get Involved

If you’ve been pregnant or given birth in the past three years and used or considered using London Ambulance Service or NHS 111 services, Healthwatch Barking and Dagenham want to hear your thoughts. 

Even if you haven’t used these services, your views on what emergency maternity care should look like are valuable too.

Take the anonymous survey to share your experiences and suggestions for improvement. Your participation will directly influence changes in policy and help create a more equitable healthcare system for all. 

A poster from Healthwatch Barking and Dagenham recruiting women from Barking and Dagenham, Redbridge and Havering to share their experiences of using 999 or 111 anytime during their pregnancy or 12 months after giving birth.

Why This Matters

Women from ethnic minority backgrounds face significant challenges in maternity care, with research showing that Black women are four times more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth than white women, and Asian women are at twice the risk.

London Ambulance Service, which handles over 1 million incidents annually, serves a highly diverse population, but barriers such as communication challenges and cultural misunderstandings continue to impact the quality of care. 

A further study revealed that differences in pregnancy outcomes among ethnic groups were particularly pronounced in Black and South Asian women facing the most severe socio-economic challenges. 

This finding suggests that societal and cultural influences play a crucial role in determining unfavourable pregnancy results.

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