Maternity focus: deafness, antenatal care and access

Deaf pregnant women are often neglected within maternity services because of a lack of understanding of how best to care for women with different communication needs. Maternity care assistants have a key role in exchanging information and taking the time to understand deaf women's needs in order to act as an advocate and helping to overcome the barriers that can be created by deafness. In order to fulfil this role, maternity care assistants need to have an understanding of the problems faced by deaf women and their partners when accessing maternity services.