An article titled "Women in labour being refused epidurals, official inquiry finds" appeared in the Guardian on Tuesday 3rd March.
AIMS fully supports individuals having access to their choice of pain relief in labour. Informed decision making, and access to effective support, is at the heart of birth being a positive experience. We agree there is a need to better understand the many reasons why epidurals are not given to women who want them, but also feel that it is crucial to put this discussion into a broader context, including access to other forms of pain relief and support.
Epidurals are one form of pain relief, but we know that women are often denied the use of other effective methods, including access to birth pools, gas and air (entonox) and access to birth surroundings which increase the body's natural endorphins (pain relief) such as birth centres and home births.
We need to be aware that the denial of epidurals is just one part of how women's rights are being dismissed and disregarded. On the AIMS Helpline we often hear about women:
AIMS calls on all maternity service providers to fully implement NICE guidance in respect of individual decisions for labour. This is key to the provision of personalised and safe care.
We hope that this page is of interest, especially to our colleagues in the maternity services improvement community.
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You are welcome to quote from or link to this article in your own work to improve maternity services but please credit AIMS as the source. If you are using a quote please include the following words: “Quote from the AIMS article {URL}. AIMS is a charity that works towards better births for all by campaigning and information sharing, protecting human rights in childbirth and helping maternity service users to know their rights, whatever birth they want, and wherever they want it. See www.aims.org.uk"
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