I was actually reading a report of the first 100 births in an Australian midwifery led centre. There were 0 third degree tears which was fantastic - they have such great outcomes!
It all comes down to the continuity of midwifery care and one-on-one midwifery care! The evidence clearly states the enormous benefits to women and babies - less intervention and consequently less perineal trauma (including episiotomies), better satisfaction with labour and birth.... i could go on and on!! Such a shame that even in light of all of the evidence, the midwifery model of care isn't widely avilable. One day

Kelly, were those statistics from the Belmont service?