Labour forces
Should you hire a doula?
Non-medical birth workers are now supporting women with period pain, fertility and menopause. To some, the doula offers something the NHS can’t. To others, they represent an attempt to plug the gender healthcare gap with an unregulated profession. WH reports on an emerging industry…
Katryna Pitts was in her ninth hour of labour when a thought gripped her with striking clarity: ‘I can’t do this.’ As another contraction shuddered through her, ahand slipped into hers, a pair of eyes met her gaze and avoice spoke the words she needed to hear, ‘You’re safe.’ Her son, Myles, was born shortly after. But those calming words that made all the difference to the 33-year-old supply teacher’s birthing experience weren’t delivered by a midwife or by her husband, James. They were spoken by her doula, Ellie – aprofessional hired by the Bristol-based couple to support them during the birth. After finding Ellie online, they paid around £1,000 for a package that included six hours of support during pregnancy, on-call availability for the birth and adebrief session afterwards.
Today, Katryna credits Ellie for facilitating her ‘really positive’ birth – it could have been otherwise. When Katryna’s waters broke two weeks before her due date, in April 2022, the couple arrived at the hospital to find the unit where they had planned to have their baby was closed due to staff shortages. From asmall, windowless room on the labour ward, Katryna began to panic. ‘The lights were blinding and all the stuff I’d planned to use, like a birthing ball, was in the midwife unit,’ Katryna recalls. ‘I was at my most vulnerable –and it felt like it was going wrong already.’ After James explained the situation on the phone, Ellie arrived, armed with a projector to soften the lighting, a birthing ball, a yoga mat and some essential oils. ‘I just remember an overwhelming feeling of relief,’ says Katryna. ‘She completely transformed the space. I don’t know what we would have done if she hadn’t been there.’
Supporting role
Described variably as a ‘non-medical birth worker’ and a ‘modern Mary Poppins’, the doula’s job description includes offering emotional and practical support during pregnancy, labour and, in some cases, after the birth. ‘Their presence serves to complement, rather than replace, the role of midwives and members of the obstetric team,’ says Asma Khalil, aconsultant obstetrician and vice president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, adding that doulas should never perform midwifery, do clinical tasks or offer medical advice or diagnoses.
‘Doula’ is an unprotected term, meaning anyone can call themselves one, so there’s no official data
