I was delighted to be asked to chair this conference. I was so impressed by so many of the women who spoke about their experiences and why continuity of midwifery care matters to them, and by midwives talking about the practical details of delivering continuity models of care.
The 13th April brought us “Celebrating Continuity, Rhetoric into Reality, Policy into Practice” a conference created through a collaboration between AIMS, RCM, The Positive Birth Movement, Neighbourhood Midwives and a Birmingham NHS Trust.
So many exciting themes came out of the conference, together with discussions of common concerns and their solutions. One quote from Beverley Turner underlined the whole of the day, “Women should be utterly supported throughout birth, and never just “winging it with a stranger”. I would equally say that midwives should be able to support women through birth having clearly understood their needs and wishes via a relationship built through pregnancy, and not left just “winging it with a stranger”.
An interesting comment from Baroness Julia Cumberledge, following a question by Ruth Weston of Aquabirths, addressed the frustration of so many campaigners that CCGs were unaccountable, even to Monitor. She announced that she was working in a team…
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Birth Talk 