Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
News
Original poster

Home vs hospital - articles in the Independent today

17 replies

Laura032004 · 14/05/2006 10:55

\link{http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article447772.ece\Home vs hospital: Where would you rather give birth to your baby?}

\link{http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article448999.ece\Childbirth revolution: Mummy State - More women should have babies at home, not in hospital}

OP posts:
WideWebWitch · 14/05/2006 10:57

Fantastic! It's about time it was acknowledged that planned home birth is statistically as safe as hospital birth. Not everyone wants to give birth at home and that's fine too but for those who do, not to have to do battle with the NHS would be lovely.

pupuce · 14/05/2006 12:11

Damn good news !!!!!

I think this is so true :
The move comes as new figures reveal that more than 200,000 women, a third of all who give birth every year, suffer some psychological distress after delivery.

Can't stand Patricia Hewitt but if she can push this through I'll ne willing to not turn off Tele when she is on!

MissChief · 14/05/2006 13:17

excellent! no idea why more women don't opt for homebirth if it's a realistic choice for them! It was such a better experience for both me and the baby.

Original poster
Laura032004 · 14/05/2006 13:32

pupuce - I was shocked at those statistics too. And these ones:
10,000 women a year are estimated to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after childbirth

This is interesting too:
2% of births happen at home today, compared to 99 per cent at the start of the 20th century

I wonder what the mortality rates were at this time? Bet the incidence of MRSA wasn't as high!

I was reading somewhere else today, that quite a large proportion of women of this and the last generation will never know what it is like to go into spontaneous labour. Sad really :(

OP posts:
Highlander · 14/05/2006 15:13

I'm a CS gal myself but, paradoxically, I'm also very pro-homebirth. There is no way in a million years I would go through the horror of a hospital birth.

Highlander · 14/05/2006 15:14

a hospital vag birth, that is!

motherinferior · 14/05/2006 15:23

Oh good. I wanted hospital very strongly first time because the drugs are better (and in the event had a vile birth which probably was a better idea to have in hospital, frankly); but I'm everlastingly grateful that when I suggested a home birth the second time round nobody blinked but just enrolled me for one and took it for granted I'd go ahead with it.

jamiesam · 14/05/2006 15:23

Am wondering whether to hold my breath until Patricia Hewitt announces that money is going to be set aside to pay for all the extra midwives needed.

No, I thought not.

Quote from second article 'doctors will be told to offer all pregnant women the chance to deliver their baby at home with the help of a midwife and their own choice of pain relief'.

Don't disagree with the sentiments of the articles but until someone (?) works out how much it's going to cost and who is going to pay for it, it simply isn't going to happen.

SoupDragon · 14/05/2006 15:36

I'm sure I remember seeing the average costs of hospital v home births and home was cheaper though jamiesam.

SoupDragon · 14/05/2006 15:38

And I used considerably less gas and air at home than Idid in hospital. That'll save money :o

motherinferior · 14/05/2006 15:39

Yes, me too - midwives aren't well paid (and I think they don't get much or any overtime for the extra hours a home birth can involve) whereas intervention - which is statistically more likely with a hospital birth - is expensive.

(I'm not knocking either intervention or hospitals, by the way.)

snafu · 14/05/2006 15:46

Homebirths are cheaper - just not the kind of cheaper that NHS managers understand.

Even with a very high homebirth rate hospitals would still have to keep on a core staff of midwives, anaesthetists, paeds, etc for those that needed them. So as far as the NHS is concerned they might as well have all women delivering in hospital anyway...gotta love that logic, huh?

WideWebWitch · 14/05/2006 15:49

Quite Snafu.

happybebe · 14/05/2006 15:59

homebirths are very much cheaper with much less expensive intervention needed, my second due in june will be a home birth.

shazronnie · 14/05/2006 16:39

DS2 was a lovely home birth, but most people were / are horrified that I didn't want to go to hospital!

jamiesam · 14/05/2006 21:31

sorry, I wasn't suggesting that homebirths cost more than hospital births.

But given that there appears to be a nationwide shortage of midwives, and recent incidents (quoted in one article) of trusts refusing home births on the grounds that they didn't have enough MW to devote any one MW to one-to-one care - well, there aren't going to be enough MW to go round. There aren't already. Trusts have already invested heavily in highly centrilised (sp?) services and will struggle to pay for those facilities (PFI etc?) and pay for a proper quote of MW - whether they are delivering one-to-one care in hospital or at home.

jamiesam · 14/05/2006 21:31

'quota' ...

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread