Welcome to the Midwife Defence Fund page hosted by AIMS. Supporting Midwives Supporting Women Wanting Normal Birth.
In an increasingly risk-averse and medico-legal culture, midwives are coming under great pressure to conform to rigidly prescriptive obstetric protocols. Yet many women still want the type of care that falls outside standard guidelines – they may want to have a VBAC at home, to give birth to a baby presenting by the breech, to avoid caesarean delivery of twins. Midwives are qualified and able to care for women aiming for normal birth, both within the NHS and outside it.
Every Government paper since The Winterton Report 1992 has reiterated the principle of woman-centred childbirth, emphasising the importance of informed choice, continuity of care and control over treatment. Women want midwives who will give such care and which has been shown to have good outcomes.
It is becoming increasingly common for the Independent Midwife to be referred to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) to defend their holistic care practice. Adverse outcomes happen whoever is providing care and wherever births take place, but these midwives are being targeted more frequently than those providing care in a hospital setting. The personal and financial costs of defending their practice are prohibitive.
We have set up the Midwife Defence Fund to help midwives defend their reputations, their livelihoods and their practice against the relentless demands of medically controlled delivery. We would like midwives to know that they have the moral and financial support of those she seeks to care for should she be unlucky enough to be forced to defend her woman-centred practice.
The fund will be managed by the AIMS committee, applications for support should be made to the AIMS committee. Funds will dispributed based on availability and need. Report of the accounts of this fund will be available with the AIMS accounts on an annual basis for further details please contact the AIMS treasurer.
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Version $Revision: 1.1 $ last updated $Date: 2004/08/06 02:14:43 $ by $Author: debbie $