Midwives and mothers walking hand in hand

From government to professional bodies to pregnant women there appears to be a consensus that maternity care has gone in a direction that satisfies nobody, yet retaining the status quo is simply unsustainable (Royal collegeof obstetricians and gynaecologists (RCOG) 2011). Too many pregnant women are receiving care in an acute setting. Not only is this costing the taxpayer money but it is costing many women physical and mental trauma as a result of unnecessary medical interventions. The Place of birth study (Hollowell et al 2011) demonstrated unequivocally that, for low risk women, birth outside of a consultant led unit (CLU) in either a midwife led unit (MLU) or home setting is safe and results in less medical intervention.