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Here is news of the maternity stats from the UK
published today. I got them from my NCT list from Miranda Dodwell who runs
the BirthChoice web site.
While it may be a statistical blip, it is
heartening to see that the Caesarean rate hasen't risen, and I would like to
think that it is due to the concerted effort of everyone in maternity services
to reduce the rate.
Debbie
Today the
Department of Health has published maternity statistics for England for the year
2002-03. These show that the caesarean rate is 22.0%, the same rate as
last year. It is the first year in 20 years that the caesarean rate has
not increased. It has shown a gradual year-on-year increase from 10.1% in
1984. The ratio of elective (planned) caesareans and emergency
caesareans has also remained the same. The caesarean rate varies around the
country, with women in the East of England being most likely to have their
baby by caesarean (24.2%) and women in the East Midlands being least likely to
have a caesarean (19.8%).
The proportion of women having their babies induced has gone down 1%, from 21.5% in 2001-02 to 20.5% in 2002-03. This is continuing the trend of falling rates of induction which peaked in 1999-2000 at 21.8%. The induction rate also varies around the country, with women in the North-West being most likely to have their baby induced (22.2%) and women in London being least likely to have an induction (17.7%). Also included in the Department of Health's bulletin for the very first time is the "normal birth rate" for maternity units around England. This measures the proportion of women who gave birth without medical interventions such as induction, epidurals or other anaesthesia, instrumental deliveries or caesarean section. Normal birth rates have been available on the www.BirthChoiceUK website for the past two years, but following extensive liaison between BirthChoiceUK and the Department of Health they have now been included in official Government statistics. The normal birth rate for England has begun to rise after many years of decline. It now stands at 47% (compared to 45% in the previous year). The DH bulletin is available at www.publications.doh.gov.uk/public/sb0410.htm and the figures have been updated on the www.BirthChoiceUK.com website. Thank you to everyone in the NCT who supports the site. We really appreciate all your feedback and helpful comments. |
