Dee-Dee Bailey (Channique Sterling-Brown) had a horrific experience in Coronation Street after she went into labour. At the hospital her concerns were brushed aside and when she insisted she was in pain she was accused of making a fuss or becoming aggressive.
It was clear that some of the attitudes of the staff were based on racist stereotypes of Black women.
It turned out that Dee-Dee had pre-eclampsia and the baby had to be delivered by emergency caesarean. During the procedure the surgeon also had to give her a hysterectomy because she was haemorrhaging, which means there’s no possibility of her having any more children.
In the aftermath of this awful experience, Dee-Dee decided she needed to do something about what had happened, both for herself and other Black women using the service, and Alya (Sair Khan) promised to help.
Channique Sterling-Brown explained that this is an issue she feels strongly about.
‘I was talking to one of the producers here about it, probably last year, in passing and I remember being like, kind of like dramatic but: “If Beyonce and Serena Williams are probably two of the richest, most famous Black women in the world and they had terrible birthing experiences, that’s such a bigger problem. That’s not just some malicious person that is inherently racist, it’s a huge, systemic issue and unless we’re talking about it, there’s no way to fix it.”
‘It’s felt like a huge responsibility to honour women who are affected by this, and also honour our healthcare workers who are extremely overstretched, because there are elements of that at play which we hopefully sensitively address.’
In upcoming episodes Dee-Dee attends a meeting with the Patient Advice and Liaison Service, who lay the blame for what went wrong on her midwife, Zoe.
But then Zoe herself explains that none of what happened to Dee-Dee was her fault, and Asha (Tanisha Gorey) – who is a friend of Zoe’s – implores Dee-Dee to think twice about her complaint as it could ruin Zoe’s career.
The hospital investigation concludes there was no wrongdoing, but then Alya and Dee-Dee go to a support group for other new mothers and they find that Dee-Dee’s experience wasn’t unique and others have suffered similar treatment.
Dee-Dee explains that Black women are four times more likely to die during childbirth, a statistic that shocks the group.
There’s a breakthrough when Zoe and her brother Wes come to see Dee-Dee at her flat. They agree to push for extra training focusing on the experience of Black women using maternity services.
Dee-Dee is relieved that changes are finally going to be made and she tells Alya she feels ready to go back to work.
