ArticleMidwifery2022
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on midwifery-led service provision in the United Kingdom in 2020-21: Findings of three national surveys.
Article in Midwifery, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Practical obstetric multi-professional training (PROMPT): the evidence for effective training.Archives of gynecology and obstetrics · 2025Pooled it
- Characteristics of Women, Intrapartum Interventions, and Maternal and Neonatal Outcomes Among Users of Intrapartum Water Immersion: The UK POOL Cohort Study.Birth (Berkeley, Calif.) · 2026Article
- Establishing the safety of waterbirth for mothers and their babies: the POOL cohort study with nested qualitative component.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2026Article
- Article
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on maternal healthcare costs: a time series analysis of pregnancies of multi-ethnic mothers in South London, United Kingdom.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- Article
- Article
- Healthcare providers' experiences of maternity care service delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom: a follow-up systematic review and qualitative evidence synthesis.Frontiers in global women's health · 2024Review
- Displaced risk. Keeping mothers and babies safe: a UK ambulance service lens.British paramedic journal · 2023Article
- Maternity service reconfigurations for intrapartum and postnatal midwifery staffing shortages: modelling of low-risk births in England.BMJ open · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic required all healthcare systems to adapt quickly. There is some evidence about the impact of the pandemic on United Kingdom maternity services overall, but little is known about the impact on midwifery-led services, including midwifery units and home birth services.
objectiveTo describe changes to midwifery-led service provision in the United Kingdom and the Channel Islands during the COVID-19 pandemic.
designThree national surveys were circulated using the United Kingdom Midwifery Study System (UKMidSS) and the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) Heads and Directors of Midwifery Network. The UKMidSS surveys took place in wave 1 (April to June 2020) and in wave 2 (February to March 2021). The RCM survey was conducted in April 2020.
findingsThe response rate to the UKMidSS surveys was 84% in wave 1 and 70% in wave 2, while 48% of Heads and Directors of Midwifery responded to the RCM survey. Around 60% of midwifery units reported being open as usual in wave 1, with the remainder affected by closures. Fewer unit closures (15%) were reported in the wave 2 survey. Around 40% of services reported some reduction in home birth services in wave 1, compared with 15% in wave 2. The apparent impact of the pandemic varied widely across the four nations of the United Kingdom and within the English regions.
conclusionsThe pandemic led to increased centralisation of maternity care and the disruption of midwifery-led services, especially in the first wave. Further research should focus on the reasons behind closures, the regional variation and the impact on maternity care experience and outcomes.
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