The maternity disadvantage assessment tool (MatDAT) is a holistic tool that measures social complexity in pregnant women and birthing people, designed to support personalised care planning and enhance interprofessional communication.

MatDAT was developed in 2018–20 by the Lambeth Early Action Partnership (LEAP) multidisciplinary health team (Wiseman et al 2025). The tool was originally called the ‘maternity vulnerability assessment tool’ or MatVAT, but was renamed when it was launched by the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) in 2024, as ‘vulnerability’ implies intrinsic faults rather than socially constructed systemic disadvantages (Gilodi et al 2024).

Social disadvantages are associated with a range of adverse health outcomes. Identifying these enables early intervention, avoiding escalation of problems (Wiseman et al 2025). National maternity guidance prioritises improving personalised care to address disparities (National Maternity Review 2016, NHS 2019). Confidential enquiries identified a ‘constellation of biases’ that affect maternal and neonatal outcomes, demonstrating the intersectionality of social, economic, ethnic, linguistic and lifestyle factors (Knight et al 2020). However, there exists no clear, consistent definition of ‘disadvantage’ that is applied across different disciplines.