‘Two’s company—Three's a crowd’: The collection of umbilical cord blood for commercial stem cell banks in England and the midwifery profession

Objectiveto explore how lay and professional stakeholders within umbilical cord blood banking discussed midwives’ and privately employed phlebotomists’ roles in light of commercial UCB collection, and what insights this offers of midwifery authority and power.Designqualitative study using face-to-face, semi-structured interviews that were digitally recorded, transcribed and coded according to themes relating to the research aims.Settingacross England.Participants61 interviews were conducted between April 2009 and August 2010 with lay and professional stakeholders within umbilical cord blood banking.Findingsthe space and access requirements for privately employed phlebotomists to conduct their work were discussed and highlighted the discursive and spatial boundary-work conducted by, or on behalf of, midwives to retain their authority over the umbilical cord blood and labour rooms.Key conclusionsmidwives were portrayed as accommodating privately employed phlebotomists to some extent. It was implied that midwives did so because phlebotomists conformed to implicit boundaries, which required respecting midwives’ authority over the labour ward, room and the umbilical cord blood. In turn, midwives’ power was protected.Implications for practicethe findings highlight the important role of spatial boundaries and the significance of the organisation of spaces when implementing new services within health care.