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Into the Archive - Local Inequalities in Access to Maternity Care

06 November 2025

Population health is a way to understand health outcomes and disparities in a group of people. It examines how social, economic, and environmental factors impact health and identifies interventions or policies to improve health for all. Here at King’s, experts have been studying population health for over half a century. ‘Into the Archive’ aims to amplify experts, past and present, at King’s who have worked to revolutionise health and healthcare.

Metrics for monitoring local inequalities in access to maternity care by Professor Jane Sandall

The 2010 study identified a group of markers to monitor inequality in access to maternity care in London.

During a pregnancy, women in the UK move through a complex system of health and social care. They deal with different maternity care providers – community, primary, and acute – depending on their situations.

Researchers reviewed national and international policies for possible markers and tested them against maternity case notes and interview responses from over 1,000 London women.

The study found various factors affecting women’s access to maternity care, including socioeconomic status, fluency in English, and country of birth. These affected timely entry into care, consultations quality, and referral to additional services such as breastfeeding support. The study found a list of 11 markers that they found suitable for maternity care audits.

The study examined the factors affecting equal access to maternity care in London, where the population is particularly diverse. Researchers across King’s have continued to look at maternity care domestically and internationally. - from the BEACON project that looks to identify and learn from high-performing maternity units in England, to BESt-UK study that looks at factors affecting birth experiences, and Global Maternal Health group that aims to improve care in low and middle income countries. Their research has the potential to influence access to safe maternity care and to inform the forthcoming national maternity investigation.”– Professor Irene Higginson OBE. Professor of Palliative Care & Policy, Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care and Co-Director, King’s Population Health Institute