PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
BIRTH CENTRES (12 January 2006)

That this House believes women should have choice over where they have their baby, including midwife-led units and birth centres; notes that many women prefer to receive care during pregnancy and labour as close to home as possible; fully supports commitments in the Maternity Standard of the National Service Framework (NSF) for Children, Young People and Maternity Services to provide choice over place of birth; recognises that midwife-led units provide friendly, individualised woman and family-centred maternity care; acknowledges research which shows that for carefully selected, low-risk women, birth centres provide higher normal birth rates and lower rates of medical interventions; further notes that the closure of midwife-led units and birth centres will undermine implementation of the Children's NSFs; in support of these aims; urges the Secretary of State for Health to support the National Childbirth Trust's call for a moratorium on the closure of midwife-led units and birth centres across England and Wales; calls for midwife-led units and birth centres which have been closed temporarily in the past three years to be reopened; and further urges the Government to require primary care trusts and NHS trusts to promote midwife-led units and birth centres to health professionals and the local community to ensure these valuable units are fully used.

Sponsored by:
Sandra Gidley (Liberal Democrat)