Last Friday, midwife Paul Beland was dismissed by the Peterborough and Stamford NHS Hospital Trust for attending a home birth. The Trust had temporarily suspended their home birth service at the end of June, due to staff shortages.
In Scunthorpe 11% of births happen at home, while in Peterborough the figure is just half of one percent. So why don't women across the country have the same degree of control over where they give birth, and is it simply down to a nationwide failiure to recruit and retain midwives?
Ritula Shah speaks to Paul Beland about his experiences as a community midwife and to the General Manager for Woman and Child Service Unit at Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Trust, Mandy Renton, about how hospital trusts decide what maternity services to provide.
