The private service One to One Midwives has withdrawn the services it provides to the NHS and is to enter insolvency proceedings. This leaves about 1,700 pregnant women, some due to give birth within weeks, having to find a new midwive.
The company, which provided midwifery services to women in Essex and the north-west of England, said the contracts did not pay enough to make the service financially sustainable.
The patients will now have to find an alternative NHS service and many may now have to give birth in hospital, rather than at home.
This is the second midwifery company to collapse – Neighbourhood Midwives, which provided midwifery services to women in the south-east, closed in January 2019.
The Guardian reports a midwifery lead at One to One, who wished to remain anonymous, said the company struggled to keep up with certain charges they had to pay to the NHS, including fees to refer an expectant mother for certain hospital appointments.
Full story in The Guardian, 1 August 2019
