Introducing continuity of care models to midwifery and maternity practice stretches back to 1969, when Sawyer (1969) examined the range of specialists offering antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care in Canada, and suggested setting up multidisciplinary committees to establish integrated care in each region. But in UK midwifery, it was Caroline Flint and colleagues who, during the 1980s, pushed ahead with piloting continuity of care schemes, primarily within London, publishing their work and findings to provide an evidence base from which it could grow (Curran 1986, Flint 1986, Flint & Poulengeris 1986). On 29 October 1988, MIDIRS held a study day in London to help midwives set up continuity of care schemes in their units (MIDIRS 1988). This was a practical workshop, based on work undertaken by Jean Cushing, who submitted a proposal to her hospital in Rhondda to set up a Know Your Midwife scheme.