The report shows black women, those from the most deprived areas and those with mental health conditions are among more likely to receive emergency care.

Nuffield Trust deputy director of research and report lead Sarah Scobie said: ‘Policymakers and NHS leaders must get a handle on whether many post-birth emergency care visits could have been avoided with better community care – or indeed with improved preventive care well before birth. The worrying variation we have uncovered indicates that some mothers need much more targeted support from NHS and other community services.'

One in 10 post-birth emergency care visits (including A&E and being admitted in an emergency) occurred in the first two weeks after birth and almost a quarter within the first six weeks.

The three most recorded reasons for an A&E visit were abdominal pain (12%), chest pain (6%) and bleeding from the vagina (5%), but 21% of mothers did not have a reason for their visit recorded.

Other key findings include:

• over a quarter 27% of Black Caribbean, 26% of Black African and 28% of mothers of ‘any other' Black ethnicity had an emergency care visit, compared with 23% of White British, 22% of White Irish and 19% of mothers with ‘other' White ethnicities
• emergency care visits followed 27% of deliveries in the most deprived areas, and it became less frequent as deprivation fell - 17% of deliveries of those who lived in the least deprived areas went to hospital for an emergency
• two-thirds of deliveries (67%), mothers had at least one pre-existing health condition
• having a hospital record of any health condition was associated with an increased risk of needing emergency hospital care post-birth in the vast majority
• almost a third (30%) of mothers with a mental ill health diagnosis had an emergency care visit, compared with 19% of those without a mental health condition
• most A&E visits (around 70%) did not result in an admission.

Reaction

Matthew Hopkins, interim acute and ambulance network director at The NHS Alliance, said: ‘There are important lessons to be learned here about preventive care, earlier intervention and targeted, co-ordinated support as motherhood begins. NHS leaders and maternity teams across the country will be carefully considering these findings, alongside Baroness Amos' review of maternity and neonatal services. Health services and maternity leaders must be supported to implement and sustain meaningful improvement, translating learning into greater transparency, accountability and better outcomes for women, babies and families.'

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: ‘As Baroness Amos' report made clear there have been significant failures across maternity and neonatal services with racism and discrimination driving inequalities in care. The Government is urgently working to drive improvements, and the secretary of state is personally chairing a maternity and neonatal taskforce. 

‘We are rolling out a Perinatal Equity and Anti-Discrimination Programme to tackle unacceptable inequalities in care and outcomes, alongside appointing a dedicated maternity and neonatal commissioner and investing over £185m to improve maternity and neonatal facilities.'