ABSTRACT
Birth centres are defined and organised differently in different places, and some bear other names. Indeed the birth centre studied here has been organised in several different ways during its relatively short history. Hall (2003) describes ‘free-standing low-risk maternity units’ which are defined by their separation from a consultant maternity unit; other birth centres are sited alongside or within the same building as a consultant maternity unit. More importantly, the term ‘birth centre’ represents ‘a set of values and beliefs about birth, without which it has little meaning’ (Shallow, 2003, p. 12). This philosophy is ‘centred on the concept of midwifery being at the heart of a social [rather than a medical] model of care’ (Shallow, 2003, p. 13), in which midwives give skilled support and ‘within which women can achieve normal, physiological birth’ (Shallow, 2003, p. 13).
