Improving maternity care through local community groups

Members of the Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS) Equality and Equity group participated in a focus group to discuss experiences of funding community groups to improve maternity and childbirth care.

Trust and relationships can act as an essential currency to enable the development of and funding for community groups. Strong interpersonal relationships within and across organisations promote safety and trust, essential for addressing systemic racism, prejudice, hierarchical structures, and closed organisational cultures that perpetuate health inequalities. ‘Boundary spanners’ can act as system connectors, stepping away from their ‘base’ organisation to ‘bridge the gap’ between public sector and community organisations. Defining and developing shared vision, goals and approaches to measurement and evaluation can permit joint working towards meaningful change. Integrated systems that can sustainably fund community organisations to support maternity care require commissioners to adopt adaptive, longterm approaches to investment.