Many years ago I wrote that GP obstetricians were an endangered species. Back then there were still many doctors with years of experience of attending women in labour, though they were already becoming scarce and many were happy to give up intrapartum care and not to have to cope with the anxiety. Since then the process has continued, accelerated by the dramatic changes in out-of-hours care in the UK. Perhaps we should not regret its passing — after all midwives have shown themselves entirely capable of providing high quality care, close to women and their homes and, when adequately supported, good low-technology intrapartum care (which, when we were campaigning for an alternative to high-tech, hospital-based care, we realised was the thing to aim for).
All, however, is not perfect, and the editorial on page 149 points out some of the difficulties: understaffing of community midwifery …