Home birth

If your GP threatens to take you off her/his list for requesting a home birth or puts undue pressure on you to give birth in hospital, contact your local HA and the supervisor of midwives in your area. As the watchdog for the health service in the area, your Community Health Council should help with contacting the right person at the HA and maternity services.

Remember: Most babies are delivered by midwives

You don’t need to have a doctor there. When your midwife undertakes to look after you during pregnancy and birth, she’ll arrange to get advice or assistance from a qualified doctor, if necessary. If at any stage, during pregnancy or labour, you and your midwife agree that you’d be better off in hospital receiving care from a doctor, the midwife will arrange for you to be transferred.

Transfers to hospital during labour are rare but, just in case, talk to your midwife about how she would handle this. Do be aware that sometimes you can plan a home birth but end up in hospital because a problem develops during pregnancy. You have to maintain a degree of flexibility about your plans.

What are my options outside the NHS?

If you have no joy with all this but you still want to have a home birth, you could consider an independent midwife They work on a private basis, alone or in group practices and are committed to providing a service that suits a woman’s individual needs during pregnancy. Private midwifery care can be expensive (in London, most midwives charge £2300 for maternity care, the insured midwives will charge from £4500) and it’s not usually covered by health insurance. Many independent midwives offer schemes, which allow you to spread payments over the antenatal period and afterwards, if necessary.