Caesarean rate for hospital deliveries highest in London NHS trusts, new figures show

Seven out of the 10 NHS trusts in England with the highest caesarean rates are in London, new figures from the NHS Information Centre show today.

* Regional level data to hospital trust level is available from this publication

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Newham Hospital NHS Trust recorded the highest caesarean rates in 2010-11 at 36.3 and 34.2 per cent of deliveries respectively. The national rate was 24.8 per cent (the same as the previous year).

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust and Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust recorded the lowest rates at 15.3 and 15.4 per cent respectively, according to NHS Maternity Statistics, England - 2010-11.

Considering the 10 regions of England (Strategic Health Authorities, or SHAs); London SHA recorded the highest caesarean rate at 28.2 per cent, while North East SHA recorded the lowest rate at 22.4 per cent.

Today’s report shows that NHS hospitals in England recorded just over 668 thousand maternity deliveries in total last year; a 2.4 per cent (15,818) increase on the previous year; while between 2007-08 and 2009-10 deliveries broadly totalled 650,000 each year. London SHA recorded the highest number of deliveries (132,453) while North East SHA recorded the lowest (32,293)

Five trusts recorded more than 10,000 deliveries in 2010-11:

• Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust (10, 949)
• University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (10,773)
• South London Healthcare NHS Trust (10,699)
• Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (10,313)
• Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust (10,276)

Today’s report also shows that in 2010-11

• 14.8 per cent of all deliveries were by emergency caesarean and 10.1 per cent were by elective caesarean; compared to 14.8 and 10.0 per cent in the previous year. These rates have been broadly similar in recent years (since 2006-07).

• 1.8 complications on average happened per delivery, compared to 1.7 per cent in the previous year.

• The average postnatal length of stay according to delivery method was 1.2 days for spontaneous delivery, 1.8 days for instrumental delivery and 2.8 days for caesareans. In the previous year the averages were 1.2, 1.9 and 2.9 days respectively.

• The overall average postnatal length of stay remained the same as the previous year at 1.7 days

Chief executive of The NHS Information Centre Tim Straughan said: “Just below a quarter of deliveries in English hospitals are by caesarean. However, there is substantial variation in the caesarean rate in different areas of the country, with seven out of ten trusts with the highest rates of all in London.

“Today’s report shows that the number of deliveries taking place in NHS hospitals has increased from the previous year to reach 668,000. Between 2007-08 and 2009-10 deliveries broadly totalled 650,000 each year.

“Our figures are based on information that hospitals have recorded and give a rich and broad picture of what is happening in maternity care, which will be of interest to health professionals and the public.

The 2010/11 report and data tables will be uploaded from 09:30 on December 1 and are available at: www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/maternity1011

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. The NHS Information Centre (the NHS IC) is England’s authoritative, independent source of health and social care information. It works with a range of health and social care providers nationwide to provide the facts and figures that help the NHS and social services run effectively. Its role is to collect data, analyse it and convert it into useful information which help providers improve their services and supports academics, researchers, regulators and policymakers in their work. The NHS IC also produces a wide range of statistical publications each year across a number of areas including: primary care, health and lifestyles, screening, hospital care, population and geography, social care, workforce and pay statistics.
2. NHS Maternity Statistics from 2006-07 onwards are not directly comparable with previous years, although a number of time series have been reworked based on the new methodology for comparison purposes. Maternity statistics are part of Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), which are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts (PCTs) in England and from some independent sector organisations for activity commissioned by the English NHS. The NHS IC liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain. Figures refer to recorded admissions and are reliant upon the accurate and complete recording of cause of hospital admission.
3. National figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. Regional figures have not been rounded.
4. For media enquires please call 0845 257 6990 or mediaenquiries@ic.nhs.uk

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