If drugs/instruments/interventions are there, they will be used. They will begin to seep in to more and more births. They will become 'routine'. The birth centre will lose what it has been, and become another hospital ward.

When i went on a tour at the new women's hospital in 2009, i asked about the birth centre (that was at the old women's), they fed the same line to me then that they had changed it so 'every room was like a birth centre'. Well, a potplant in the corridor and a nice picture on the wall does not take away from it being a hospital room. Having one to one care does not make a good birth if the hcp doesn't believe that women can birth naturally or have rights over their own bodies.

Yes many women transfer to the hospital, i wouldn't be surprised if this number has increased lately because the system keeps adding more conditions for women to be eligible. Many of the midwives fight hard for the women attending there, but they also have to work within the system. Being transferred is not necessarily worse than never attending the fbc at all. For those who saw women centred midwives during their care, they are often more comfortable in questioning treatment and speaking up for what they want for them and their babies.

It is not a perfect system, but it is a centre worth holding on to.