ABSTRACT
Dutch maternity care is based on the midwifery model. Primary care has historically been a strong foundation of the Dutch health care system and, crucially for the development of Dutch maternity care, it is considered to prevent the unnecessary use of costly secondary care and remains a policy priority. A higher risk of delivery-related perinatal death was also found in the babies of women who were referred intrapartum from primary to secondary care compared with infants of women who started and completed delivery in secondary care. Among term births, regional mortality differences were the largest for births in women transferred intrapartum from primary to secondary care. The Dutch welfare state is difficult to classify into one of the established families of welfare state systems. The Netherlands has low intervention rates in childbirth, including low rates of caesarean section, induction of labour and episiotomy.
