Midwifery Model
Further Reading
The Midwifery Model has been proposed by Independent Midwives-UK and is supported by the Department of Health. Active negotiations are underway to enable PCTs to contract-in the services of independent midwives for all women. This is similar to the model independent midwives have long envisioned being implemented for midwifery services in the UK.
Our suggestion has always been that The NHS Midwifery Model would sit alongside the current provision. Not only would it be available to all women who would like to have genuine continuity of care but it would enable many more midwives to work the way independent midwives currently do.
This is how the midwifery model would work. Every pregnant woman would have direct access to a list of independent midwives local to her. She can contact and meet with one or more so that she can choose the one with whom she feels most comfortable. That midwife then enters into a standard contract with the NHS who pay her on a set fee per case basis. This is the start of a relationship between the midwife and the woman which can develop over the months of pregnancy and provide a firm foundation for an equal partnership based on trust. This, as the research shows, makes for good outcomes and positive experiences for everyone involved and it isn’t just about home births. The midwife would have full access to NHS facilities so that her client could choose the place and type of birth that most suited her needs. It would be available to those women who want it, no matter where they live or what socio-economic class they come from.
One of the major problems facing the provision of maternity services today is the shortage of midwives. Despite many initiatives to improve retention within the midwifery profession, the crisis is deepening. Midwives are voting with their feet and leaving the profession. This in part is due to them being unable to practise their profession in a way that gives them job satisfaction or control of their working lives. A new approach is needed and we believe our community midwifery model would offer another option for midwives. For many midwives, providing true continuity of care would increase their job satisfaction and being able to choose the number of women that they care for at any given time would provide choice and flexibility in midwives' working lives.