ABSTRACT
The Birth Centre that is the focus of this study, like many others set up in recent years, was born out of closure and reconfiguration of maternity services (Fraser et al., 2003; Hall, 2003; Manero and Turner, 2003; Shallow, 2003). The town in which it is located originally had a separate maternity hospital, which opened after World War I, located across the town from the general hospital. This maternity hospital was closed in the early 1990s, and services were moved into pre-fabricated buildings, dating from World War II, at the general hospital. In 2001, that maternity unit was closed after lengthy public consultation, parliamentary debate and a long campaign to save it, and the town lost its full range of maternity services. The maternity unit in a neighbouring town now provided maternity care, although some women opted to give birth in another maternity unit 10 to 12 miles away.
