Understanding women’s preferences for opting into midwifery-led birth centre with Hull and East Yorkshire NHS Trust

Carol Lambert

Funding application of £10,000 over one year granted from East Riding of Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group to undertake:

The Fatima Allam Birth Centre: Understanding women’s preferences for opting into midwifery-led birth centre with Hull and East Yorkshire NHS Trust.

Giving birth is generally very safe and it is effectively demonstrated that midwifery-led care in a non-obstetric environment is safe for women and their babies, cost effective and has positive associations with both user and staff satisfaction. This year, the Fatima Allam midwifery-led birth centre opened at the Women and Children’s Hospital and offers women the choice of birthing environments that national guidance recommends. Considering most women opt for obstetric unit care, there is need to understand the preferences of women eligible to book to the birth centre facility in the Hull and East Yorkshire Trust, their perceptions of midwifery-led care and what their expectations are in relation to this provision of care. Understanding this is a key element to ensure the birth centre operates to its full potential and the positive associations with this birth environment can be shared by women, practitioners and service provision.

The study will be led by Dr Carol Lambert (Researcher in Maternal and Reproductive Health) with co-applicants Julie Flint (midwifery lecturer), Professor Julie Jomeen (Dean of Faculty) and practice partners at the Hull Women and Children’s Hospital, Jan Cairns (Head of Midwifery) and Lorraine Cooper (Lead Midwife).

Julie Jomen

Julie Flint