Better Births: Improving outcomes of maternity services in England.
A Five Year Forward View for maternity care. NHS England 2016

The report of a major consultation and review of maternity services in England and Wales, published in 2016.

NCT is a UK charity providing information and support to parents. This document discusses the social model of care, the environment and facilities available in birth centres, and who can book care in a birth centre. It summarises latest outcomes evidence associated with both freestanding and alongside midwifery units, including costs and cost effectiveness.

This quality standard, produced by the English National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) describes high-quality care in priority areas. It covers the care of women and their babies during labour and immediately after the birth and includes women who go into labour at term, women at low risk of complications during labour and those who go on to develop complications.

The strongest evidence we have to date on the safety of different planned places of birth in England. The Birthplace cohort study compared the safety of births planned in four settings: home, freestanding midwifery units (FMUs), alongside midwifery units (AMUs) and obstetric units (OUs). The main findings relate to healthy women with straightforward pregnancies who meet the NICE intrapartum care guideline criteria for a ‘low risk’ birth.

The findings of the national prospective cohort study component of the Birthplace in England Research Programme, comparing perinatal outcomes, maternal outcomes, and interventions in labour by planned place of birth at the start of care in labour for women with low risk pregnancies.

A large ethnographic study of birth in four NHS Trusts England, including staff experiences of work and women and their partners’ experiences of birth in midwifery units.

A ethnographic study focussing on the organisation, care and user experiences in four Alongside Midwifery Units in England.

Reference: Kirkham M (2003) Birth centres: a social model for maternity care. Books for Midwives.

Reference: Walsh D (2006) ‘Improving Maternity Services: the epidemiologically based needs assessment reviews, Vol 2: Small is Beautiful – lessons from a birth centre’. CRC Press

Reference: Coxon, K. (2012) ‘Making evidence about risks and benefits accessible to parents’ NCT Perspective. Issue 16

Reference: McFarlane, A. J. et al. (2014) ‘Survey of women’s experiences of care in a new freestanding midwifery unit in an inner city area of London, England – 1: Methods and women’s overall ratings of care’ Midwifery 30 (9): 998-1008

Reference: Hinton, L., Dumelow, C., Rowe, R. and Hollowell, J. (2018) ‘Birthplace choices: what are the information needs of women when choosing where to give birth in England? A qualitative study using online and face to face focus groups’ BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 18 (12)

A report on a study exploring the relationships between staffing models and clinical outcomes in English maternity services.

Reference: Sandall et al (2014) ‘The efficient use of the maternity workforce and the implications for safety and quality in maternity care: a population-based, cross-sectional study’. Health Services & Delivery Research. Vol 2 Issue 38.

Further details, hand outs and presentations are available here.