Women's Decision-Making And Factors Affecting Their Choice Of ...

could be more readily maintained, risk of infection to the baby was reduced,
family life is not disrupted, and less noise and activity at home promoted the
mother's rest. Even the College of General Practitioners expressed the view that
many women would prefer a home delivery if assured of its safety.
However, it would appear that the influential evidence was that from the
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), who testified that
the hospital provided maximum safety over home birth. In their deliberations, the
committee recommended that a sufficient number of beds should be provided to
allow for 70% of deliveries to take place in hospital. According to Chamberlain
et al (1997), the institutional delivery rate at that time was 54%, they go on to
argue that this figure of 70% hospital deliveries was a repetitim of an tallies
recommendation by the Royal College of Obstetricians and GynaecolOgists. In
their report, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists had stated that
from the figures of women wanting a hospital confinement at that time, it would
seem wise to make provision to begin with for about 70% of all births to take
place in institutions (Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 1944).
The rate of institutional deliveries at that time of the RCOG was 51%, and,
therefore, 70% was about 20% more (Chamberlain, Wraight, and Crowley 1997).
The report of the RCOG did not refer to any evidence supporting the need to
increase institutional delivery rate to 70% and neither did the Cranbrook
Committee when they reiterated the recommendation. On the other hand, the
Cranbrook Committee disregarded the evidence highlighting the advantages of
home deliveries. It would appear therefore that recommendations were made
without any scientific evidence for any benefits, but rather from the views of
medical practitioners.
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