The benefits of working within a midwifery carer model which works for midwives and women; male midwives, and the magic of being a traditional midwife - An interview with James Bourton

James Bourton is a registered midwife who works in an NHS continuity of care midwifery model within in Wales, UK. James describes himself as a home birth midwife, experienced in physiological birth, working autonomously as a practitioner with the support of a small midwifery team. James is passionate about providing women and families with individualised care that works for them in a way that they can achieve positive outcomes during pregnancy, birth and beyond. James advocates for women to know and understand that they do have rights in birth, that they always have choices, and that they can say no! James feels that a continuity of care model is the way forward in midwifery (or the way backwards, as this is how it always was) as the outcomes speak for themselves. 

In this episode we shine a light on midwifery in a COC service in Wales. We discuss with James about working as a midwife who gets to follow women and their families through the entire continuum; pregnancy to postpartum. 

We ask james about working as a male midwife, the importance of making strong relationships, the joys of being the ‘local’ midwife in the community, on-calls and shift work, the importance of students getting to experience this way of working, and we talk about the real magic of working in traditional midwifery.  

James leaves us with a beautiful story from a midwives perspective.

This is the episode to start off the new year with a boost of oxytocin.