The history of Birth Centre Bristol
Birth Centre Bristol was set up in 2001 by a group of committed volunteers. We set up a Steering Group to drive the project forward and a Midwifery Group to support our aims. We also started to bring together our Advisory Panel of health and business professionals to give us help and advice.
In September 2002, with a grant from Neighbourhood Renewal Easton and Lawrence Hill, we sent a formal proposal to Bristol North Primary Care Trust, asking them to fund a birth centre in Easton. Later that year, we carried out a survey of women in Easton. Over 95 per cent of the women who replied said that they wanted a birth centre in their area. We then set up the Birth Centre Bristol Community Network in Easton and Lawrence Hill to find out more about the needs and priorities of local people.
We started talking to people at both the Bristol Primary Care Trusts and in February 2004, we updated our proposal and expanded it to cover the whole of Bristol. A summary of our proposal is available to read.
Our Neighbourhood Renewal grant has been renewed for two more years until 2008 and we have now published a strategic plan to show the Primary Care Trusts how birth centres not only offer a high quality and much needed service for low risk women, but can also save them money.
The Action Group set up early in 2005 to co-ordinate support within the community and raise awareness about our project has grown to become Birth Centre Bristol Supporters Group (Bristol with Easton). We have the support of all four Bristol MPs and our campaign has even been mentioned in the House of Commons.
An article about the Birth Centre Bristol campaign, giving further details about what we have done so far, was published in Midwifery Matters, the newsletter of the Association of Radical Midwives.