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Chichester Home Birth Conference

Yesterday the Chichester Home birth Group presented their sixth Conference, an event they stage every 18 months. This time, they had decided to venture further afield, and chose a venue in Bristol for the program. This was a good move and 160 people assembled to hear a number of speakers, including myself.

My paper was titled “Have Women Changed?”, question I decided could be answered with a “Yes” and a “No”. I’ll put the paper on the website soon so you can read my impressions of women today and consider whether I have managed to do them justice.

Mary Cronk is a midwife with a reputation for fierce protection of midwifery skills and natural birth. She is a champion of vaginal breech birth and vaginal twin births, and firmly believes that women can almost always give birth successfully, providing they have good midwifery care. The statement on homebirth from the Nursing and Midwifery Council had just been released (see my previous Diary entry) and as most in the audience were unaware of its content, Mary spent some time going through this, highlighting the important statements that will give real impetus to improving the home birth rate.

Mavis Kirkham addressed the issue of the “Postcode Lottery” when it comes to home birth and took us through a number of factors that could be used to promote midwifery models of care. She also touched on the findings of her research projects that have explored workforce issues - why midwives leave the profession, what makes them stay, etc. Her main point was that it is “stroppy women” who generate the change and lead the charge and we should celebrate their contrary ways and admire their dogged determination in pushing for reforms that will benefit both midwifery and women.

Lynne Leyshon, from Torbay, offered us some useful insights into how they have achieved an average 11.5% home birth rate across their area (some sections are over 25%). This program has been running since 1994, and it incorporates all the “best practice” indicators that enable midwives to offer and sustain the service and gives women real choices for birth. Her “secret” is the deliberate avoidance of booking women into a birth place, or even discussing birth place options until 35 weeks of pregnancy. At that point the midwife might then raise the issue with a women in this way: “Let’s talk about where you might give birth. Home is the first option and if something is not going well, then the hospital is available.” As Lynne pointed out, marketing people understand that the first option presented to people is what is usually remembered best, so by presenting home as the first option and hospital as a backup if things are not going to plan, home is accepted as the norm. This is a clever ploy and one worth remembering!

Jonathon Montgomery, a lawyer, explained the rights and responsibilities of the health service and women in relation to home birth. He also discussed litigation and assured midwives that if they were practising within their professional capacities, and in accordance with the currently accepted norms of their peers, they had very little to fear from litigation. I am sure the many midwives in the audience were heartened by his presentation.

The final panel of the day was made up of a selection of stories who described their decision making regarding home birth and recounted some of their experiences, both with independent midwives and also NHS midwives. For the parents in the audience it was a chance to hear from their peers and for the midwives, an opportunity to get some feedback from parents using their services.

It was a full day, with stimulating papers and an interesting cross section of speakers. I look forward to hearing about their next event, in October 2007.

Posted by andrea at March 27, 2006 02:12 AM