The experiences of midwives and women during intrapartum transfer from one-to-one midwife-led birth environments to obstetric-led units

Transfer from a midwife-led birth environment to an obstetric-led unit is a stressful situation for midwives and women. This paper highlights how territorial behaviours impacted negatively for midwives during transfer to an obstetric-led unit. More research is required to understand territorial behaviours within the maternity services and how more respectful compassionate working relationships can be created. Additionally, from the perspective of women this paper highlights four aspects of care that positively impacted on the experiences of women and even helped them to build resilience to cope with the change of location, situation, medical interventions and new carers when transferring to an obstetric-led unit.