Our midwifery services are dedicated to providing all our families with the best possible care.
We endeavour to support all women’s choice when deciding on a place of birth, please contact your community midwife for more information.
Contact details
If you would like to give birth at home please register your pregnancy by contacting us. If you are already receiving midwifery care please let your community midwife know when you make this choice. You will be referred to the homebirth service for a homebirth risk assessment and birth planning meeting around 36 weeks of pregnancy.
Deciding to have a home birth
The majority of women will only need a midwife caring for them throughout this important time as midwives are the experts in normal pregnancy, birth and the days afterwards.
A national study in 2011 found that low risk women planning a birth at home have significantly fewer interventions that women giving birth in a consultant unit. This includes significantly reducing their chance of needing interventions such as caesarean section, forceps, ventouse (a suction cap) induction of labour and are less likely to experience a tear or cut to their perineum.
For first time mothers the study showed that there is a slightly higher chance of them needing to transfer to hospital and a slight increase in the risk to their baby over choosing a hospital setting.