Delivering maternity services in an era of superdiversity: the challenges of novelty and newness

Abstract

The population complexity associated with superdiversity brings a wide range of challenges for social welfare providers. Commentators have outlined concerns about the ability of service providers to meet the welfare needs of ever diversifying populations and point to potential problems in identifying the nature of need in rapidly changing superdiverse neighbourhoods as conventional approaches to consultation based around ethnicity become practically impossible. Using data collected in the West Midlands, which explored maternity service needs from the perspectives of new migrants and maternity professionals, some key barriers to effective welfare delivery in superdiverse areas are explored. The paper outlines the emergence of two challenges important in shaping new migrant access to maternity care in an era of superdiversity – novelty and newness – and proposes further research to examine the extent to which these challenges are faced in other social welfare services.

Keywords:

• superdiversity
• new migration
• welfare
• maternity services

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank referees for helpful comments on the first submission of the manuscript and Fran Meissner and Aleksandra Kazlowska for useful comments on the final version. I am also grateful to community researchers Marcianne Uwimana and Zahira Latif for the expertise, insight and networks invested in the study and the various NGOs who generously offered their time and premises to enable us to interview their clients. Finally, thanks are due to the ninety-five women and eighteen professionals who participated in the research and without whom the research would not have been possible.

Funding

This study was funded by the Department of Health.

Notes

1. E15 are member countries of the European Union prior to Accession of a further 10 countries in 2004.

2. GP registration data is incomplete. Migrants generally register with a GP only if they need medical attention.

3. Data sets included GP Flag 4 (new registrations from outside the UK), National Insurance numbers (migrants registering for work for the first time), UK Borders Agency database of asylum seekers in the West Midlands (all asylum seekers dispersed to or receiving support in the region), Workers Registration Scheme (all accession country migrants registering to work for an employer, by employer's address).

4. The nature of these challenges is discussed in detail in Phillimore et al. (2011).

Additional information

Funding

Funding: This study was funded by the Department of Health.

Notes on contributors

Jenny Phillimore

JENNY PHILLIMORE is Professor of Migration and Superdiversity and Director of the Institute for Research into Superdiversity (IRiS), at the University of Birmingham.