A legacy from Sheila Kitzinger: Continuity of care is crucial

Over many years, my friend Sheila Kitzinger and I talked about the importance of women receiving care from one or a small group of midwives whom they could get to know and trust over time, which became known as continuity of carer. Sheila supported me in the early days of development of continuity, in what was often a very political battle. She had a clear understanding of the benefits of continuity of relationship between women and midwives; she spoke and wrote, till the end of her life, about the need for every woman to have a midwife she could get to know and trust for her care before, during and after birth. It seemed appropriate, then, that the inaugural research seminar in October 2015 of the Sheila Kitzinger Programme at Green Templeton College, Oxford, involved 2 days of presentation of the evidence and intensive discussion around continuity in midwifery-led care.