As part of our research focusing on maternity services, we will be investigating the drivers of increasing Caesarean section rates in England. In the first of a series of reserach extracts, we describe our findings using crude unadjusted Health Episode Statistics, before setting out our plans for a longitudinal study, investigating the links between incidence of c-section rates, maternal characteristics and maternity staffing levels.
The rising rates of caesarean sections have become a hot topic in the news. Efforts are being made in order to reduce them and promote normal births instead, as the latter are believed to result in improved outcomes for patients and lower costs for the health provider. For the UK, a prominent example is the “Focus on Normal Birth and Reducing Caesarean Section Rates Rapid Improvement Programme" which began in April 2008. Yet, as in many other countries, caesarean section is becoming an increasingly popular method for delivering a baby. According to calculations using the maternity tail of the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data, the total caesarean section rate has increased from 21.8% in 2000 to 25.1% in 2013 (first quarter) in English NHS trusts, while it was lying around 12% in 1990 for the UK as a whole.