HSE backs expansion of home birth scheme

CHILDBIRTH groups have welcomed the recommendations of a Health Service Executive (HSE) report which backs the expansion of the home birth scheme and the development of community midwifery schemes.

The Domicilary Births Group report found that home birth is “safe” for women at low risk, and the State should offer it to women once it is “adequately resourced and supported.”

The report is to be published in the coming weeks and a national implementation committee will be established to examine legal and safety issues around expanding birth choice in Ireland. The committee will look at how home birth schemes and home/hospital or midwife-led schemes could be extended nationwide, as they are only available in pockets of the country at present.