Booking Your Maternity Care

If you are booking your birth with the NHS, you may be required to have a referral from your GP in order for the midwives to begin your antenatal care. You can arrange your care with the appropriate midwives first, and then visit your GP if necessary to ask for the referral letter to be sent. Some Midwife-Led Units allow you to "self-refer" which means that you don't need to see your GP.

If you are booking a Home Birth with the NHS

• phone up the community midwives at your local hospital. Remember, you do not have to have the support of your GP to book a home birth, although they may agree to be present at the birth if you want them to. However, you may need a referral from your GP in order to access the services of the community midwives. If your GP does not support home birth, you do not need to discuss this with them. You can simply ask them to refer you for maternity care to your local hospital and then request a home birth at your booking appointment.
  
  

If you are booking a Home Birth with independent midwives,

• phone them directly.

If you are booking to have your baby at a Consultant Unit you can either:

• phone up the Director of Midwifery to make a booking appointment. You may need to visit your GP to be referred. Or
  
  
• go to see your GP and ask them to refer you. They will book you with a particular consultant at the hospital so remember to say if there was one whose policies and practices you preferred
  
  

If you are booking to have your baby at a Midwifery-Led Unit or GP Unit attached to a consultant unit

• phone up and speak to a midwife in the MLU/GP unit. You may need to visit your GP to be referred.

If you are booking to have your baby with the Domino scheme

• phone up the Community Midwives at your local hospital. You may need to visit your GP to be referred.

If you are booking with an NHS Community Unit (midwifery-led unit or GP unit not attached to a consultant unit)

• phone up the Unit directly. They will tell you if you can self-refer or if you need to visit your GP.
  
  

If you are booking with a Community Unit run by independent midwives

• phone them directly

If you are having problems booking the birth you want, contact the Association for Improvements in Maternity Services (AIMS) for support and information about your choices and rights.

Now, return to the Checklist for some final thoughts......