Midwives no longer able to attend home births in Guernsey due to staff shortage

• Report by ITV Channel's Serena Sandhu

Midwives are no longer able to support women opting for a home birth in Guernsey due to staffing pressures.

It comes after the service was initially suspended due to Covid.

The States of Guernsey says in order to facilitate home births, two of the five community midwives are required to be on-call for 24 hours a day, for up to five weeks at a time. They say this is difficult for a small team to accommodate and can impact the core priority of supporting hospital deliveries.

The Committee for Health and Social Care says it wants to be able to offer a homebirth service locally, but they need to make sure core services on Loveridge Ward are maintained.

Midwives working on Loveridge Ward cannot travel to attend a homebirth without reducing the available capacity on the ward, which is why an on-call rota was needed for midwives to be available for homebirths. Deputy Tina Bury, Vice-President of the Committee for Health & Social Care, said: "The midwifery team is small and it was simply not sustainable or safe in the long-term to provide the kind of on-call cover needed to support homebirths.

"We have to focus our limited resources where they are of greatest benefit to the significant majority of women who choose to give birth on Loveridge Ward.

"Nevertheless, we are very sorry for the impact this will have on expectant parents who had their hearts set on giving birth at home."

Annabel Nicholas, Associate Director, Midwifery and Paediatrics, said: "While we wish we were still able to offer this service, as the Maternity Team is passionate about being able to offer choice in birthing environments, expectant parents should be reassured that midwifery-led care is available on Loveridge Ward and that every effort will be made to meet their wishes in the hospital environment.

"We have tried really hard in recent years to improve the delivery suite area on Loveridge Ward so that it feels more homely, for example delivery rooms have been refurbished and birthing pools are available.

"We continue to work hard to develop and improve services that are personal and based on the needs and wishes of women and their families in the Bailiwick."

Jemma Wilson had both her daughters, Eden and Ren, at home.

She says it was the best experience combining both comfort and security.

She said: “Part of the reason for having a second child was wanting to give birth again because I had such a good experience with my first. It was great, I couldn't fault the service of the community midwife.”

Jemma is disappointed other mothers will miss out on her experience, adding: “It's sad, I think it's really sad, I think everyone should have the option...I feel it's really important for women to have the option and have other ways of this been explored like having more midwifes and having a different system of on call that could make it a possibility?”

Emma De Carteret had her daughter in hospital but says she would've opted for a home birth in the future.

She said: “I think it is better to have more choice than less choice I understand that it is done because there is not enough staffing over here but if people were to do it privately I don't see why they couldn't do that as it is a real personal thing.”