Campaigners warn that a new guidance saying doctors don't need to be present during child birth could put mothers and their babies at risk.
The National Health Service (NHS) advises that midwives should help women give birth at home because it is supposedly better than doctors who are in charge at labor wards.
However, the new policy came at this time when numerous labor wards are having a hard time coping with the highest number of births in 40 years and campaigners are concerned that the NHS is only trying to cut down the budget. They warn that this policy would risk the lives of mothers and their babies, saying the guidance is based from a "flawed research" done by a team from Oxford University.
The study caused controversy when it reported that a home birth with a midwife in charge was as safe as the hospital for low risk pregnant women having a second or third baby. It also reported that pregnant women who are having their first baby through home birth were three times at more risk to complications including the child's death.
729,000 infants were born in 2012 in Wales and England, a 20 percent increase from 2002. Only two percent of the 800,000 babies per year were born at home in the UK.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) urges midwives to encourage pregnant women who are having their second or third child and whose pregnancy looks straightforward to choose home birth or a midwifery-led unit (MLU). The guidance says that every woman can decide where to give birth and a hospital obstetric unit choice would still be respected.
"Since we published our original guidance, more evidence has come to light about the benefits and risks associated with giving birth at home, in an independent or hospital-based midwife-led unit and on a traditional labor ward," guideline director for NICE Christine Carson said. She added that MLU are as safe as traditional labor wards for women with straightforward pregnancies and are even more likely to offer a better birth experience with not much medical intervention. Carson said they will hear out what others think so they can update the guidance and promote the best care for pregnant women and their babies.
The guidance also recommends that the newborn's umbilical cord shouldn't be cut immediately except when the infant needs urgent medical care. When the cord is left from one to five minutes, it can facilitate better blood flow to the baby.
