Newsletter 1, July 2020
Welcome to Midwifery Unit Network!
Our monthly newsletter aims to offer you a glimpse into some of our work and passions.
This month is about how we utilise research to influence and campaign.
Throughout the world, pregnant and birthing women have been affected by the Covid pandemic. In many areas of the UK, we’ve seen the suspension of midwifery units (birth centres) and home birth services through the centralising of all care to the obstetric unit.
We’re delighted to learn that many of these midwife-led services have recently been reinstated. Furthermore, we wish to applaud those services who innovatively and safely maintained their midwifery units (MUs) and home birth cover in the face of the pandemic, despite staff shortages.
Midwifery Unit Network campaigns to make MUs the default option for women with uncomplicated pregnancies. The question is, in spite of the research evidence, are birth centres still viewed as “optional, alternative or outside the norm?”
Through the following article, we invite you to take a reflective and critical look at the appropriateness of the centralising of maternity care during the national crisis and how this affects women, choices, safety and midwifery care.
Midwifery Unit Network are delighted to affiliate with City, University of London.
Sincere thanks to Dr Yuill, Professor McCourt and MUNet’s CEO Dr Rocca-Ihenacho for this thought-provoking article.
