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Expectant mothers have lost the choice to give birth at home after the Health Department suspended the service to conduct an internal review.
The service – which supported 45 home births in 2022 and 43 in 2023 but only nine last year – was paused on 14 October 2024 to assess protocols, staff training, and resources.
Following queries from Express, Director of Midwifery Ros Bullen-Bell said: “Although the home birth service is temporarily paused, while we conduct an internal review, we remain fully committed to reinstating it promptly once the review is completed and we have implemented any enhancements needed to further improve the service.”
Pictured: Government figures show an increase from 10 home births in 2020 to 38 in 2021, reaching 45 births (5% of all births) in 2022, and falling slightly to 43 in 2023.
She added: “I want to reassure expectant parents that our team is dedicated to supporting them in achieving their desired birth experience within our recently re-opened Maternity Unit, which features a dedicated Midwife-Led Unit.”
The Government of Jersey’s maternity webpage states: “The HCS Maternity Department supports home births, however, at times this will not be possible due to staffing and/or workload both within the hospital and/or community.”
The situation in Jersey reflects a wider trend across the UK, where numerous NHS Trusts have suspended or reduced home birth services in response to staffing shortages.
In November 2024, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust suspended its home birth service due to staff sickness and rota issues.
According to Birthrights, a UK organisation advocating for maternity rights, NHS trusts are expected to provide a home birth service unless there are compelling reasons not to.
They stress that healthcare providers must ensure adequate staffing to deliver promised services and should have contingency plans in place for staff shortages.
The organisation said: "A Trust should only pause their home birth service if they have looked at all the options for keeping it going and they are still unable to.
"This could include providing an independent midwife."
But in November 2021, The Observer found more than 20 trusts that had disrupted home birth services in just three months – with some of these suspensions lasting over a year.
The decision to pause the service in Jersey comes against a backdrop of wider challenges in maternity care.
A critical report published in 2021 found that Jersey's maternity facilities were “inadequate and highly unacceptable”, and should be upgraded as soon as possible.
A total of 127 recommendations were made in response to the review in the Maternity Improvement Plan – 87 of which had been completed as of January 2024.
But in a heated Scrutiny hearing last year, Professor Simon Mackenzie – who came to the island in January 2023 as the clinical lead in a five-person “change team” – said that progress in the maternity department had been "helped along by the fact that there was going to be this inquest into the death of Amelia Clyde-Smith".
Pictured: Professor Mackenzie said that changes in maternity had been "helped along" by the "public scrutiny" of an upcoming inquest.
In April 2024, an inquest into the death of baby Amelia – who was just 33 days old when she passed away – found that "failings in the midwifery team" and "neglect" on the labour ward contributed to the tragic outcome.
And an update on the progress of the Maternity Improvement Plan, which was presented to the Health Advisory Board last summer, said that "there are still concerns regarding the culture" in the department – namely relationships between doctors and midwives, doctors and doctors, and midwives in hospital and midwives in the community.
Meanwhile, a leading midwifery union raised concerns about persistent "poor culture" and retention issues within the department in late 2023.
The Royal College of Midwives found a "perception among staff that maternity management are not prioritising their health and wellbeing" and that midwives had been left unable to take any breaks when working 13.5-hour day shifts and 11.5-hour night shifts.
At the time, the Health and Community Services' executive team described the concerns as "somewhat out of date".
"At the time that this was submitted RCM may not have been fully aware of developments over the last year to improve maternity services," they explained.
The executive team added that a "substantial programme of change work has been conducted by the division and directed at executive level".
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Mother welcomes "neglect" finding in baby Amelia inquest (April 2024)
"Limited progress" made after 'Jersey Way' Health review, say midwives (November 2023)
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