I understand where you are coming from, but maternity is a completely different kettle of fish. This is not medicine, being pregnant (or in labour) is not an illness, its a natural thing. The women booked with these birth centers dont have medical problems; if the had they wouldnt be there. Of course emergencies in maternity do happen but they are rare and in between and in most of the cases provoked by our own interventions (epidurals, artificial rupture of membranes etc etc). It's a well known truth amongst us maternity staff that just by being in a consultant led unit you tend to get more interventions than you need. That is why we try to send women who dont need to be there home or to one of this centers, because if they sit around for too long the obtetritians tend to get itchy and want to do something instead of letting the normal process unfold. We do not tell them to come back by an ambulance, though ;-)