CHAPTER 15 - Place of birth

Summary

Providers of maternity care have a responsibility to assist the woman and her partner in making an informed choice of place of birth. The options include the home, a midwifery-led maternity unit or a consultant-led hospital delivery suite. With the acknowledgement that healthy mothers have healthy babies that grow into healthy adults, maternity services were included in the National Service Framework (NSF) for Children, Young People and Maternity. Policy considerations regarding place of birth must look beyond studies of perinatal mortality; issues such as selection of women, staffing and cost are also important. Unless future evidence dictates otherwise, home birth is an option that should be open to appropriately selected women who are at low risk of obstetric complications and at low risk of being transferred to hospital having laboured at home.