The death of independent midwifery?

[Snaf]

May I draw your attention to this?

I am a fervent supporter of the NHS and the struggle of NHS midwives to provide good care and support everyday, but I also feel very strongly that alternatives should be available to those that want/need them. This proposal is yet another nail in the coffin of maternal choice.

If this legislation goes ahead, it will effectively mean the end of independent midwifery. I know that lots of MNers have had great experiences with IMs and I'm sure the IMA would appreciate your support if you (and anyone else!) would like to lend it.

Isn't it still illegal to plan an unassisted birth?

It was never illegal to plan an unassisted birth; there was some confusion over the law regarding non-midwives 'attending' a woman in labour, but it was clarified a few years ago that this law does not apply in cases where no-one is acting as a midwife i.e. most planned unassisted births. See here .

Doesn't stop midwives lying to women about unassisted birth being 'illegal' though.

It is certainly not illegal. There is nothing to stop any woman if she chooses giving birth. In fact it's probably most natural of all that we find a secure place completely alone to give birth. It is our body. Our baby. Our choice.

An on the indemnity insurance point it's been a big issue for a long time I think. I believe my midwives had it but it was hard to get and expensive.

this is just outragious....so...writing to the mp is what we can do...what else....

There is precedent for it in lots of other areas as well sadly but not all. You aren't required by law to have indemnity insurance if you're an IT specialist for example and some choose to have it and some don't. However doctors and lawyers can't practise without paying for expensive cover.

I want to second those comments about the lack of choice through the NHS. 3 supposed choices: hospital; homebirth; and midwife led centre ('the next big thing').

--The hospital are so under-staffed I'm not confident of its safety. I can't even get an NHS ante-natal appt without 3 weeks notice (and that's at 36+ weeks).

--They can't guarantee an NHS homebirth because of staffing issues.

-- As well as not taking VBACs, our local midwife led centre won't take anyone who is GBS +ve (which, if everyone was tested would equate to 30% of pregnant women) because apparently they can't deal with any possible side-effects of the IV ABs. No wonder that only a tiny minority of women who book in actually use the facility to give birth.

Which is why having an independent midwife was so important to us. The govt will issue some ridiculous statement about improvements in maternity care and increased choice, but until it does (presumably the day hell freezes over) denying women the choice of selecting to pay for an IM is a disgrace.

This is terrible- in the south west so many Midwife Led Units are closing due to funding, and there was an article in the paper (times or independent I can't remember) about the death of the homebirth becuase of understaffing. But its not as if delivering a baby is going to stop happening is it? It all seems rather bizarre to me.

yes agree with Xeni is happening in many industries- thy introduced a law to my dh's sector to say that all the units produced of the type he makes have to be tested for insurance; testers set cost fo £900 a time- when his things are made to spec at a max of £200 a time he just ahd to give up and now just restores older ones

I was talking about this with dp last night and he said there was somewhere online for filling petitions. I'll ask him further about this and post details here if anyone's interested. I shall be writing to my MP - for whatever good that'll do me. Are there any high-profile people who could be roped in to this maybe??
What are the NCT doing?

I find this all so utterly, utterly depressing. It is like they are saying 'everyone can't afford it so let's get rid of the good care that so all women get the same shit care'.
All the rhetoric about choice for women is just nonsense.

I am so relieved that I am pregnant now and able to slip through before I no longer have a choice.

Funnily enough I got a tad mad about this and found out about the petitions site and.....

petitionthem.com/default.asp?sect=detail&pet=3696

Sorry I can't work out how to make the link work but please do sign it and encourage all your friends to as well.

here as a link

will email my MP too.......

Signed it and forwarded it. Tks for posting the link 3lovehearts & rachelhill.

It was Rachel really, I just used the link she used it and made it work for her

Thanks 3LoveHeartsAndNoMore - I think my intelligence comes out in my breast milk and I'm technically inept by 6pm

I have also got in touch with Women's hour on Radio 4 - anyone else care to do the same, if enough of us kick off they'll cover it and....well it worked for the road tolls thing!

Rachel

Having had three children, one with an IM and two in hospital with the worst experience by far being the one with the IM - I would wholeheartedly support affordable PIL. I would not ever use an IM without it again. My IM did make it clear that they were unable to afford it and we discussed what would happen should there be any problems.

However the problems I endured were as a result of the MW being negligent and lying to me. I did not do anything about it - it was my first baby and I just wanted to put it behind me - we, dd and I were fine - so I moved on.

However, about 18 months later I was contacted by someone else who had used the same IM's and had a similar, but worse experience and was taking them to court. She didn't want money, but an acknowledgement. She had to jump through hoops, suffered all sorts of trauma trying to get some sort of answers it took at least 2 if not 3 years. Eventually they appologised.

neither of us are the type of people to sue at the slightest problem, but we both felt that the IM's had done v little to help. Had we had problems that were unforeseen we would have left it, but they were irresponsible. There should be some come back.

I thought that PII was available to IMs, just very very expensive? I thought the midwives at the Birth Centre had it, for example. Mind you, that was based on a newspaper article I read years ago so I shouldn't assume it was gospel truth.
(And in any event PII is so expensive that in practical terms it would put IMs outside the reach of most women)

What happened with your IMs glassofwine? I'd love to know who they are, but I'm not sure if you'd want to say here.

Message withdrawn

I got an email about this from the IMs I used for ds2's homebirth, and I will be writing in protest. They also said there is going to be a piece about it on Women's Hour on Radio 4 tomorrow (Tuesday) between 10 and 11am. We shoul djam the BBC switchboard with calls about it and flood their online discussion pages.

Message withdrawn

There was a piece on todays womans hour about the death of IMs and the insurance issues etc. Was v good and the IM they had on sounded v professional. You can listen again and comment on the message board.

Oops just noticed womans hour already mentioned!

what about contacting this morning or another similar programme asking them to cover the topic. i would contact them myself but i live abroad so it is difficult