The pilot project, Neighbourhood Midwives, was designed to provide a high standard of antenatal, delivery and postnatal care, but suddenly closed 31 January 2019 . Its closure came less than a month after the government, as part of its 10-year plan for the NHS, outlined ambitious new maternity care plans that stressed a need for greater “continuity of care” so that women could be assigned a named midwife throughout their pregnancy who would stay with them during the birth and as they settled at home with their baby. Currently, women see several, if not more than a dozen, different midwives before, during and after birth.
Neighbourhood Midwives was a private service but funded by the NHS, that had offered personalised, continuous care by a named midwife and greater choice for the expectant mother when planning her delivery. Nine midwives have lost their jobs.
