Yep, pretty true- I remember a long standing joke that the 3rd year student midwives were there to train the SHOs and it was pretty true... Big city hospitals it doesnt' tend to be so much of an issue. District Generals, and smaller units, full of people on GP training schemes who did 4 weeks of O&G in their 4th year at uni... sometimes they are the only doctor immediately there on the ward. I would rather have an experienced midwife. We all used to feel desperately sorry for the new SHOs, coming in without a clue and being told they are responsible for 2 lives. Some of them had only seen 3 normal births in their life, so how on earth do they know what is ABnormal? Luckily where I trained, adn where I work now, the doctors are all very pro homebirth and pro normality and aren't scalpel happy, which is much better in the long term for all concerned.