Wolverhampton midwives launch specialist support group

Gurbax Kaur and Sunita Banga are leading the project

A specialist service has been launched to provide maternity support for parents who do not speak English.

The Sahara group will help people in Wolverhampton.

Sahara means "support" in Punjabi, Hindi, Bangladeshi and Pakistani although for now, classes will be conducted in Punjabi.

However, as more women are referred, New Cross Hospital plans to recruit interpreters for other languages.

Punjabi is the most-spoken, non-English language in the local area and the team plans to increase its offering to also include Urdu, Romanian, Polish and Kurdish.

"This service will address those who might be new to the country, those who don't speak English and those who have difficulty accessing digital services," said Sunita Banga, the equality, diversity and inclusion lead midwife at New Cross Hospital.

She added the sessions would help women from different cultural backgrounds be more aware of things to look out for during pregnancy.

The service will initially run in a drop-in capacity at the Bob Jones Community Hub on Bromley Street in the city.

It will provide antenatal as well as postnatal support and education in addition to mental health aid.