The BL3 Maternity Hub in Bolton is a ground-breaking maternity service, set up to ensure that the diverse language and cultural experiences of Bolton’s multi-ethnic community are not barriers to safe and comprehensive maternity care.

As has been widely reported there is a significant disparity in pregnancy outcomes for women from ethnic minorities with Black British mothers five times more likely to die in pregnancy or six weeks after childbirth, than White women.

Women of mixed ethnicity have three times the risk, and Asian women almost twice the risk. BAME women are also at an increased risk of having a pre-term birth, stillbirth, neonatal death or a baby born with low birth weight.

Addressing the issue head on Bolton NHS Foundation Trust have launched the BL3 Maternity Hub in partnership with Bolton Council of Mosques, providing a base for maternity services in the Deane area of Bolton bringing care closer to home for those who may have previously faced barriers when accessing maternity care.

This location was chosen because it has one of the highest pregnant populations in Bolton (midwives here are caring for around 800 pregnant women at any one time) and also which has a high percentage of BAME residents.

This area has more women that are likely to book with a place of birth that is not the UK, and it is felt that this is one of the areas in Bolton where families are most likely to benefit from support being available in additional languages.

The hub provides a full day’s antenatal clinic every Tuesday for booked appointments as part of a pregnant women’s regular maternity care.

Typical reasons may be to for someone to inform us they are pregnant or if they have queries around preparation for labour, diet and other wellbeing factors during pregnancy, contraception following birth and so on.