Hewitt pledges home births choice

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Ms Hewitt did not earmark any extra money for the Government's plans but said the NHS had no need to cut back on other services.

The heads of the Royal Colleges welcomed the Government's commitment to raising the profile of maternity services but warned more staff were needed.

Under the plans, women will be guaranteed a choice over where to give birth by the end of 2009, including a home birth, a midwife-led birth or a consultant-led birth. They will also be able to choose how to access maternity care when they first discover they are pregnant, such as going directly to a midwife or a GP.

Options will also be set out so a woman can decide whether to be cared for by midwives or a team of both doctors and midwives. Women can also expect a guarantee on accessing "better, more personal, postnatal care" and access to a midwife "they know and trust".

Ms Hewitt said women in some areas of the country got an excellent service, but more women would give birth at home if they could.

Ms Hewitt also pledged that "only a professionally-qualified midwife" rather than lesser qualified maternity support workers (MSWs) would supervise the birth of babies.

She acknowledged a current shortfall in midwives but said 1,000 were in training and would qualify in the next couple of years. At present, around 19,000 are employed but the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) says 3,000 extra are needed to fulfil the Government's pledge.

Ms Hewitt said: "We know we will have 1,000 new midwives qualifying between now and 2009, and there are others qualified if not working as midwives elsewhere in the NHS. We want to encourage these midwives to come back into the service.

"Each Primary Care Trust needs to look at what its workforce requirements are, then through the Strategic Health Authorities we can work with those areas where they will have the biggest challenge in getting their staffing numbers up. It's a national promise, but it has to be delivered locally. We are signalling that maternity services will need to be a higher priority for the NHS in future years."