Did you give birth in the first two weeks of May 2024? If so, you may have received a letter about the National Maternity Survey in England.
Around half of those who birthed in these weeks should have received this letter. They were sent out having been identified randomly through registration records at the Office for National Statistics. Whatever your experience, you still have an opportunity to have your voice heard, but you need to hurry! You have until the end of March, though it appears only if you were one of the people contacted originally.
Forewarning for those who do not identify as women – the NPEU information and recruitment ads are not worded inclusively. I assume they’re seeking feedback from all births in those two weeks, not just from those who identify as women...? But the researchers’ intentions are unclear, so I feel I need to point this out.
Big Birthas respects and honours ALL birthing people, regardless of how they identify. We use neutral and/or additive language as appropriate, so I’m highlighting that the following paragraphs come directly from the NPEU:
Information from the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit in Oxford
“Researchers from Oxford University would love to hear from you so they can feedback to government policy makers what women are experiencing. Finding out about women’s maternity experiences, health and wellbeing, means they can understand how care can be improved.”
“If you received a letter but have lost it or thrown it away and have decided now you’d like to take part, you can email youandyourbaby@npeu.ox.ac.uk or call the Office for National Statistics freephone on 0800 085 7376. They will retrieve your unique ID for you so you can submit the survey.”
“We know in maternity that women and families often say their voices are not heard by policy makers, particularly women of Black and Brown heritage and families living in social deprivation. But whoever you represent, this is a chance to support those voices in being heard.“
Reimbursement & Closing Date
“All women who receive a survey invitation have the opportunity to be entered into a prize draw for the chance to win one of 100 New Baby One4All Gift Cards worth £20.”
“The National Maternity Survey will close at the end of March and we want to make sure as many women and families who are eligible to take part, know about it and are able to still have their voice heard. The survey captures the experiences of a proportion of the women and families in England who had a baby in the first two weeks of May last year. They have been chosen randomly and will have received a letter inviting them to take part. It’s possible some may have missed this given how busy the year can be leading up to Christmas!”
“The more women and families who take part, the more views and experiences we will be able to include in our findings.”
Background info the the National Maternity Survey
“We have been running maternity surveys at the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit in Oxford since 1995. You & Your Baby 2024 is the first survey we have carried out since the Covid-19 pandemic. We know women’s health and the care they received during the pandemic was affected and so hearing about women’s maternity experiences since then will be so important.”
“You can find more details of the survey here: https://www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/maternity-surveys/surveys/2024-survey and information about the impact our past surveys have had here on policy changes: https://www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/maternity-surveys/impact“
“Thank you so much for your support. If you would like to know more about the survey, please contact the survey team: youandyourbaby@npeu.ox.ac.uk“
Why am I publicising this, given the problematic wording?
It’s a fair question! And it’s a question I’ve grappled with, but on balance decided to run with it.
If this post is very raw for you, I apologise for bringing it to your attention. I appreciate that I come from a position of privilege. While this language and exclusion is offensive to me because it excludes others, seeing it doesn’t personally affect me in the way that it might affect you. So I hope if that applies, that the forewarning was at least helpful. I don’t expect everyone to feel the same. Equally, I’m sure some wouldn’t have even noticed, had I not pointed it out…
Mainly, I’ve posted this because I’ve long held that we need to engage with researchers to make our voices heard. With the caveat of when and where we have the energy to do so!? We cannot expect change to happen if we don’t say where change needs to happen… and this is at least an opportunity for a select few to do that. There are so many aspects of maternity care where learning from experience is vital.
If you are eligible, I’d urge you to take part so you can feed into the data. Your voice matters!
If you’re eligible but choose not to engage with this study for any reason, then I’d encourage you to let the researchers know. They will continue to believe their approach is correct if unchallenged! If that is not something you feel able to do, than that’s absolutely fine too, no judgement. Do whatever feels right for you.
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Big Birtha