Birth Options Clinic

What is the birth options clinic?
The decision about how you wish to give birth will depend on your individual circumstances and what is important to you. The birth options clinic is a midwife led service which provides women with information about vaginal and caesarean births. The midwife will discuss with you the risks and benefits of both vaginal and caesarean birth to support you to make a fully informed decision about the type of birth you would like to have. Clear and accurate information will be presented to you in an unbiased and impartial way based on the most up to date evidence.

Why have I been referred to the birth options clinic?
Your midwife or doctor has referred to you our clinic because one of the following applies to you:

• You have had one previous uncomplicated caesarean birth – the clinic will discuss your previous birth(s) with you and your options for birth this time. If you have had a previous caesarean at another UK hospital, then we will make a request for your notes to discuss your previous birth with you. If you have any objections to this then please let your community midwife know. We will have access to notes for women who have previously birthed at Salisbury.
• You are requesting a planned caesarean for maternal request
• You are unsure about how you wish to birth and would like to discuss your option

When will my appointment be?
We usually send an appointment for between 28-32 weeks of your pregnancy. This will be posted to you and on your Badgernotes. The appointment will usually be a telephone appointment. If you require an interpreter, then your appointment will be face to face in the antenatal clinic at Salisbury. If you do not wish to have a telephone appointment, then please let your community midwife know.
If you have been referred after 28 weeks of pregnancy then we will arrange to see you as soon as possible.

I already know that I want a caesarean, do I still need this appointment?
We have a duty to provide the risks and benefits of all options to women to ensure that you are making a fully informed decision, and this is a legal requirement. In order for an obstetrician to book a caesarean birth for you they need to be assured that you have been provided with all of this information. We want to assure you that our service is impartial, and we are here to explore what is important to you and how we can support you to have as positive birth as possible.

This document uses the term women throughout, but this should be taken to also include people who do not identify as women but who are pregnant, in labour and in the postnatal period.