Croydon, Merton and Sutton. The eight most spoken languages after English are French, German, Gujurati, Korean, Polish, Somali, Tamil and Urdu.
There are 4 hospital trusts with maternity units based at Croydon Hospital, Epsom and St Helier Hospitals, Kingston Hospital and St George’s Hospital. In 2020/21, there were approximately 17000 births in the area. The highest number of births were at Kingston Hospital and the lowest number of births at Croydon Hospital.
In 2020/21 the stillbirth rate per 1,000 births in South West London was 3.7, lower than the national average of 3.8. In 2021/22 the South West London stillbirth rate was 1.5 per 1,000 births whereas the National average rose to 3.6.
Some facts* about the ethnicity of women and birthing people across South West London:
- 36 percent are white British.
- 19 percent are of other white background.
- 8 percent are Asian (including Indian, Pakistani and Bangaldeshi).
- 6 percent are of other Asian background.
- 5 percent are Black African.
- 2 percent are Caribbean.
- 2 percent are of any other black background.
- 10 percent did not state their ethnic group.
- Women giving birth more likely to be aged 31-40 compared to other areas.
- Overall, in 2021/22 maternity bookings were lower than previous years.
- Births were 7% lower in 2021/22 than in 2019/20.
- People in Croydon borough have the worst health outcomes in their deprived areas including higher smoking rates and higher low term birth weight babies.
- People in Croydon borough have the worst health outcomes in their deprived areas including higher smoking rates and higher low term birth weight babies.
- Croydon borough has the highest pockets of deprivation.
- There is a higher rate of stillbirth in minority ethnic groups.
- There are 4 Maternity and Neonatal Voice Partnerships with local people and professionals working together to improve local maternity care.
- 2021/22 data shows that Croydon has the highest percentage of deliveries to mothers from minority ethnic backgrounds compared to Richmond which has the lowest percentage.
- 2019 data shows that Merton has the highest percentage of residents with English as a second language compared to Richmond which has the lowest percentage.
*Data source from local monthly data returns direct from south west London maternity units. The data is a snapshot of live activity over the most recent 6 months, April to August 2021.