NHS Maternity Statistics England 2005-6

Released on 26/06/2007

Commenting on the publication of the NHS Maternity Statistics England 2005-6, Mary Newburn, Head of Policy Research at the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) said:

"We are concerned to see that the normal birth rate has decreased despite the Government's 2004 National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services which set the standard for ‘Women being supported and encouraged to have as normal a pregnancy and birth as possible, with medical interventions recommended to them only if they are of benefit to the woman or her baby.’

[A normal birth is a birth without induction, without the use of surgical interventions, without caesarean section and anaesthetics during labour.]

We are also concerned to see that the caesarean rate appears to be increasing (23.5%). More needs to be done if we are to meet the World Health Organization’s recommendation of a 10-15% caesarean rate for any country.

Most women want their labour and birth to be straightforward with a minimum of intervention if they can cope, and their baby is healthy. Higher levels of intervention take control away from women, they tend to make labour more difficult to manage and result in a longer period of recovery afterwards.

The NHS should prioritise promoting normal birth and reducing unnecessary interventions. This would be helped if the Government funded programmes to tackle the causes and characteristics of high intervention rates.”

Statistics breakdown

Induction of labour, use of epidurals and instrumental births, with forceps or ventouse, have all crept upward. In 2005-06 induction of labour reached 20.2% (up from 19.6% in 2004-05), use of epidurals was 22% (up from 20%) and instrumental births, with forceps or ventouse, reached 11.1% (up from 10.7%).

The caesarean rate has risen from 22.9% to 23.5% due to an increase in emergency operations (up from 13.6% to 14.1%). Planned caesarean rates are virtually unchanged (9.4% to 9.3%).

Caesarean rates are as high as one in every three births in parts of London where the birth rates have risen sharply and many maternity services are overstretched. Queen Charlotte’s caesarean rate stands at 33.8%, Chelsea and Westminster at 32% and St Mary’s Paddington at 31%. The only other hospital with a caesarean rate over 30% is Sandwell Hospital in West Bromwich (30.4%).

The overall effect of all these increases in intervention is to decrease normal birth rates to 46.7% (from 48% in 2004-05).

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