IM UK response to BMJ article
INDEPENDENT MIDWIVES CALL FOR ACCESS TO NHS HOSPITALS FOR HIGH RISK BIRTHS
Independent midwives are calling for access to NHS hospitals when caring for women the NHS will not support. Women with high risk pregnancies such as those carrying breech babies and twins are increasingly told that a vaginal birth is not an option within the NHS. Hiring an independent midwife, who is skilled in these births, is often the only option. However, most NHS Trusts will not allow independent midwives to deliver babies in their hospitals, forcing women to choose between a caesarean in hospital or a high risk birth at home.
“Litigation fears and a skills deficit means more and more ‘high risk’ women are told by NHS services that caesarean section is their only option,” stated Beverley Beech from the Association for Improvements in Maternity Services (AIMS) a consumer group for women with 50 years experience in the field.
“This leaves independent midwives to support the women that the NHS will not. From the calls to our hotline, we hear women being told by the NHS that if they want a vaginal birth they should contact the Independent Midwives who will attend them at home. The least the NHS can do is enable them to support these women in hospital.”
The demands follow a recent study [1] that suggests that while all women cared for by independent midwives have better outcomes on many fronts, including breastfeeding and normal birth, high risk women have an apparent increased perinatal mortality rate. Low risk women were no more likely to experience a stillbirth or a neonatal death than those cared for by the NHS.
IM UK, an organisation that supports independent midwifery in the UK, and others have expressed serious concerns about some aspects of the study and further research has been commissioned.
“Inevitably, the figures compare caesarean sections on the NHS with vaginal births for breech and twin babies by independent midwives, often in a home setting.
While women continue to have the right to decide how and where to have their babies, someone has to be prepared to support them in labour,” says Annie Francis from IM UK.
“Clearly, everyone wants to understand the issues underlying these figures and we welcome the additional research. However, what we know already is that some women want to have vaginal breech or twin births in hospital rather than at home; and currently independent midwives are unable to support them in that choice. IM UK urges the government to ensure that independent midwives can work in NHS settings, when appropriate, in the interests of safety.”
[1]Outcomes for births booked under an independent midwife and births in NHS maternity units: matched comparison study. Symon, A., Winter, C., Inkster, M., Donnan, P. BMJ June 2009
Notes to Editors:
IM UK is an organisation that supports and promotes independent midwifery. IM UK believes that all women should be able to choose a midwife to provide individualised one-to-one care throughout her pregnancy, birth and early days of motherhood. Within the NHS, women usually receive care from a number of different midwives and midwives are often required to care for more than one woman in labour at the same time.
IM UK is currently campaigning to integrate independent midwifery with the NHS to improve services for women and address the serious issue of midwifery shortages.
For more information, please contact:
For Independent Midwives UK:
Annie Francis Eleanor May Johnson
07977695948 07900951571
annie.francis@independentmidwives.org.uk
eleanor.mayjohnson@independentmidwives.org.uk
For AIMS:
Debbie Chippington Derrick Gill Boden
01276 510575 07732 327585 / 02920 220478