Other practical considerations can also affect the selection of mothers. To ensure a high quality of care and to reduce the possibility of mothers going into labour at the same time, midwives must limit their client numbers. This results in some women being refused care. Midwives also need holidays and they cannot take bookings in and around these periods. The obvious solution to this problem is more domiciliary midwives.
Money is also a factor.
A midwife's fee is partially covered by all health boards. This is despite the fact that every woman is entitled to free maternity care under the 1970 Health Act. It is a disgrace that women are forced into hospital care and delivery on purely financial grounds. Midwives attend mothers in benders in West Cork and mansions in Ballsbridge. As long as there are basic facilities, some form of heating, a water supply, a telephone nearby to call the midwife, other aesthetic factors are irrelevant.