The NHS could make significant savings by encouraging women who already have children to give birth at home.

According to a study from the University of Oxford, home births or births in a midwifery unit could be cost-effective for the health service.

The research could lay the foundations for a shake-up of maternity services in the UK, potentially altering midwife jobs , said the Royal College of Midwives.

Provided women are at low risk of complications, births in these locations are generally healthy for both the mother and child, the study said. It did, however, note that a planned home birth was "associated with poorer outcomes for the baby".

Health economist Liz Schroder, a co-author of the study, said: "The findings of the birthplace study may encourage women - particularly women having a second or subsequent baby - to request an `out of hospital` birth.

"And the potential for cost savings could make offering women more choice an attractive option for the NHS."

The study is published on bmj.com.

The researchers examined the circumstances of 64,000 births in England between 2008 and 2010.

Copyright Press Association 2012

Healthcare professionals working in midwife jobs will offer women personalised support while having their babies under new plans announced by the Government.

Midwives will offer one-to-one care during labour and birth as part of efforts to tackle postnatal depression, according to ministers.

Special training will be rolled out for midwives to help them recognise whether women are feeling low and struggling to cope with their new arrival.

The pledges will also see further help for mothers who have miscarried or suffered a stillbirth, with a nursing chief calling the announcement "very good news" for both women and midwives.

Cathy Warwick, chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), said: "These are positive plans from the Government targeting areas of maternity care that are under prioritised and under-resourced.

"The impact of a miscarriage or a stillbirth can be devastating for the woman and her family and, postnatal depression can be a crippling and sometimes fatal illness. Early detection and treatment is crucial.

"It is also excellent to see an intention to ensure that long-standing NHS commitments, such as one-to-one care in labour and choice about where and how women give birth, become a reality for all women."

Copyright Press Association 2012

Planned repeat Caesarean sections can reduce the risk of health problems in babies, according to a new study.

A study of more than 2,300 women found that mother and baby suffered fewer complications from a planned second Caesarean delivery than they would from a normal birth.

Experts recommend that pregnant women should discuss their individual options for a Caesarean or a natural birth with obstetricians or staff working in midwife jobs .

The Australian women involved in the study had all had one previous Caesarean, but were eligible for a subsequent normal birth.

The women were divided into two equal groups based on whether they wanted a normal or Caesarean birth.

Researchers found that the risk of babies being stillborn or dying in the first few days of life, or suffering serious health problems, was lower in the Caesarean group.

According to the research, published in the Public Library of Science (PLoS) Medicine, one baby death or near death would be prevented for every 66 planned second Caesarean deliveries.

Copyright Press Association 2012

The prediction of premature births could be improved by two devices being developed by doctors and scientists in Sheffield.

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundations Trust and the University of Sheffield are setting up the two major trials, which are worth nearly £1m in funding combined, to test how accurate they are.

The innovative devices could help give those working in midwife jobs a better idea of women who are likely to have a premature birth. Electrical impulses are used to take measurements of the resistance of tissue in the cervix.

Some 500 women will be recruited at Sheffield`s Jessop Wing Hospital to take part in the Medical Research Council-funded trial over the next two years.

Clinicians will be able to improve the care of women at risk if the devices are shown to be accurate. Doctors could potentially focus progesterone therapy in a more accurate way, helping to prolong the pregnancy, with the help of the information from the devices.

Dr Dilly Anumba, who is a consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, is leading the trials.

Dr Anumba said: "Our devices have shown promising results in previous work we`ve done, but we now need to trial them on larger numbers of women. These trials will allow us to put the devices to the test on a large scale."

Copyright Press Association 2012