Trust Board Febuary 2010 - Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals

SWBTB (2/10) 035 (a)
White and Black Caribbean
This grouping was split between option 2 (44%) and option 3 (38%)
One respondent was concerned about the impact of the impending changes on staff morale
and, consequently, levels of patient care.
Polish/Latvian/Eastern European
66% of Polish/Latvian/Eastern European respondents chose option 3
Yemeni
66% of Yemeni respondents chose option 3
The need to secure views from the Yemeni community were highlighted in the Equalities
Impact Assessment. The majority of respondents were located in West Bromwich. The most
important issue raised in questionnaire comments was about the cost of transport to City,
particularly for non-car owners dependent on taxis, a shuttle bus was suggested by two
respondents. The need for interpreting services was also mentioned.
Women from Yemen in a focus group were aware of the choice between home births and
hospital births, but their experience of home births in Yemen was not good, so they preferred
to be in hospital.
Women from this community would like to visit a Midwife-Led Birth Centre and to be able to
find out more about it.
6. Stakeholder Views
The following groups provided written responses to the consultation:
6.1 The Right Care Right Here Partnership Board response to the consultation noted that:
“There was general support for the proposals in the consultation document, requiring the
rationalisation of maternity services, with the consolidation of the majority of services onto one
hospital site.”
In the comments (which can be found in full at appendix 5) the Board noted that the whilst the
presentation they were given and the information about the options clearly indicated that
services would be consolidated at City Hospital there was insufficient detail as to why such as
consolidation could not occur at Sandwell. They also noted that there was no detail relating
the 2007 Users Survey which “indicated that the service was judged to be ‘least well
performing’ and that service users were unhappy about the quality of care provided.”
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