Midwife urges staffing review (Nursing Standard 08/09/04)

Cathy Warwick, of King's College Hospital NHS Trust, an NMC member, has suggested that maternity units should pool their staffing resources in regional co-operatives so that all women requesting a home birth can have one, an influential midwifery expert said last week. The idea is put forward in response to the Beland case, in which a midwife was dismissed for providing a women with a home birth in defiance of his trust's policies. The NMC is expected to issue revised guidelines soon on the home birth issue.