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Death of choice for pregnant women
Compulsory insurance will mean no more independent midwives
Next year, the Nursing and Midwifery Council is going to make professional indemnity insurance compulsory for all registered health professionals, including midwives. This means that it will become illegal to practice as a midwife without insurance.

This sounds on the surface entirely reasonable - after all, you wouldn't drive a car without insurance - in fact, you might be surprised to find that this is not the case already. However the big difference is that, while midwives employed by the NHS are insured via the NHS Litigation Authority, there is simply no insurance available for independent midwives. The government knows this. It's like them saying that it is illegal to drive a car without insurance but there are no companies who provide it. Unless we are successful in fighting this proposed change in legislation, practising independent midwifery will become illegal, and in all probability independent midwives will disappear.

This is not because of huge claims against independent midwives - far from it. In fact the issue arose because of two claims against uninsured private dentists!, but there will be major ramifications for women and midwives if this change in legislation goes through.

Childbirth and insurance do not sit well together. Birth is unique in that occasional poor outcomes are expected, blame is often hard to prove and yet insurance payouts run into millions of pounds because life-long caring is taken into account. Insurance companies are not altruistic; they are in insurance to make profit and there is no profit in childbirth. Even if all independent midwives put money in a pot there would not be enough to cover the pay-out for one baby with cerebral palsy. 

Does this affect you? It does if you:

• simply want to know who will be your midwife when you go into labour and have the opportunity to develop a relationship with them prior to the birth
• are thinking of having an independent midwife for your first baby
• are pregnant with twins or a breech baby or wanting a normal birth after caesarean section; in which case an independent midwife is often the only choice for a normal approach to this kind of birth
• have had a difficult time with your first baby and are thinking of having an independent midwife for your second
• have already had an independent midwifery care and assume that you can have it again
• have a daughter who will want have babies of her own someday and want to protect her choices
• simply believe in a woman's right to choose the maternity care she needs

If independent midwifery disappears then these choices will disappear overnight.

Independent midwives may be small in number, but what they stand for are two vital principles: choice for women in birth to be attended by a midwife they have chosen, and choice for midwifery to be practiced in the way midwives and women choose. The NHS does not provide this.

If this proposal goes through it will mean that the only maternity care available to women will be dictated by the cash-strapped NHS and the insurance companies.

Independent midwives need all the help they can if they are to fight this proposed change or find a way in which they can get affordable insurance. If we do nothing it will mean the end of independent midwifery in the UK.

PLEASE SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION TO SAVE INDEPENDENT MIDWIFERY. http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/midwives/

THE PETITION READS; We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to ensure the survival of independent midwifery in the UK and thereby offer real choice to pregnant women

All Independent Midwives have been informed that the government is intending to make professional indemnity insurance (PII) a compulsory requirement for registration within 12-18 months. There is currently no PII available to independent midwives so they will no longer be able to practice legally. Independent midwives practice outside the NHS but within the regulatory framework of the Nursing and Midwifery Council and bound by it's 'Code of Professional Conduct' and 'Midwives Rules'. Independent midwives are specialists in normal birth caring mostly for women planning home birth. The care they give has been shown to have good outcomes for women including those who are usually classified as 'high risk', with more normal births, reduced caesarean section rates and increased breast feeding rates. The government must ensure that either professional indemnity insurance is available to all midwives however they choose to work or exempt independent midwives from the requirement for PII.