Women's experience of transfer from community-based to consultant-based maternity care

Objective: to investigate women's experience of transfer from community-based to consultant obstetric care. Design: semi-structured interviews three to eight weeks postnatally, which were taped, transcribed and analysed according to grounded theory. Setting: community-based maternity service, Sheffield, England. Participants: twelve women who had been transferred to consultant care in late pregnancy or labour. Main outcome measures: categories which described and explained women's experience and that could be validated by checking back against the interview data. Findings: there was a strong potential for disappointment with their labours, but this could be ameliorated by certain aspects of care, namely information and explanation, debriefing, and continuity of care. Conclusion: transfer is an inevitable consequence for a proportion of community-booked women but need not be a negative experience, with appropriate care.