I'm now pregnant with my third child and if I was unable to use an independent midwife, I'd seriously consider birthing my baby on my own. I'm not a crank. I'm an ordinary person who fully supports the NHS and am generally against private medical care. I wish the NHS would allow all midwives to operate in the way that independent midwives do - providing friendly, supportive, experienced, non-judgmental continuity of care to women, in their own homes when they wish.

With my first child, I opted for a home birth with NHS community midwives but the result was an emergency c-section. It was the most traumatic experience of my life and my baby nearly died. I blame the system and inexperienced midwives. I know I could have birthed my baby safely without the unnecessary 'cascade of intervention'. When I had my second child, the NHS wouldn't support a home birth because I was a 'high risk'. After much battling and soul-searching, I resorted to an independent midwife from the London Birth Practice. It was the best decision I ever made and changed my life.

Both my midwives were amazing and I had my second child safely, comfortably and happily at home after a 5 hour second stage. I did not 'turn blue and die' as the NHS consultant had threatened I would do. To me, this is a women's rights issue. I demand the right to use an independent midwife because women's rights are regularly violated by a failing NHS maternity system that puts resources and risk of litigation before the welfare of women and babies, and reduces the profession of midwifery to one of obstetric nurse. (mother of two)

Women without the choice of hiring an Independent Midwife face the lottery of NHS care which ranges from very good to abominable.

Without Indepent Midwife's practising within the community the NHS has no examples of how much better care women could receive. (ex-client)

I am in strong support of preserving independent midwifery, as I was lucky enough to spend an elective placement with an independent midwifery practice recently.  I say lucky, because I was able to witness first-hand the gold standard care that these professionals deliver.  They treat women and their families with the respect and dignity that all human beings deserve, carrying out their wishes safely whilst maintaining an observant and critical eye.

Independent midwives provide the kind of care which I envisioned my practice would be when I first started training to be a midwife.  However, having experienced the constraints of the NHS I am not sure that I will be able to do this within it.  During my placement I met many women who were terrified of hospitals and had had traumatic experiences in them.  Having their second baby with independent midwives helped to heal these wounds and enabled them to reconnect with themselves and their babies.  If they are not given this choice in the future they may decide not to have further children or even give birth unassisted.

These women received care which is holistic and thus cannot be quantified or priced and thus does not fit into the current Government and NHS models of thinking.  Independent midwifery should be saved because women must have choice and the NHS needs to see that care can and should be delivered in this way.

I sincerely hope that your campaign is successful!

(3rd year Student Midwife)