A 'must-have' report for midwifery managers, maternity services commissioners, MSLC and labour ward forum members, educationalists and students. This report makes the case that normal birth rates can be used as an indicator of the quality of midwifery care. It discusses practices which evidence suggests will increase opportunities for normal birth without compromising safety or women’s experience, including:
- Providing continuity of midwife-led care.
- Offering birth at home or in a birth centre.
- Providing birth preparation classes.
- Ensuring one-to-one midwifery care for women in labour.
- Encouraging mobility and upright positions during labour.
- Offering access to immersion in water during labour for pain relief.
There is evidence, in some cases strong evidence, that these practices increase the quality of care by improving health outcomes and making care more personalised and responsive to the physiological, social and emotional needs of women and their families.
