{"id":286731,"date":"2022-02-27T09:27:49","date_gmt":"2022-02-27T09:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/nhs-axes-targets-for-natural-births-as-c-section-limits-are-dropped-to-improve-standards-of-care\/"},"modified":"2022-02-27T09:27:49","modified_gmt":"2022-02-27T09:27:49","slug":"nhs-axes-targets-for-natural-births-as-c-section-limits-are-dropped-to-improve-standards-of-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/nhs-axes-targets-for-natural-births-as-c-section-limits-are-dropped-to-improve-standards-of-care\/","title":{"rendered":"NHS axes targets for natural births as C-section limits are dropped to improve standards of care\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>NHS axes targets for natural births as C-section limits are dropped to improve standards of care<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"mol-bullets-with-font\">\n<li class=\"class\"><strong>The NHS has abandoned targets aimed at limiting caesarean rates\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li class=\"class\"><strong>There were concerns these targets led to women pursuing natural births\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"author-section byline-plain\">By Eleanor Hayward Health Correspondent For The Daily Mail<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"byline-section\"><span class=\"article-timestamp article-timestamp-published\"> <span class=\"article-timestamp-label\">Published:<\/span>  17:05 EST, 20 February 2022  <\/span> | <span class=\"article-timestamp article-timestamp-updated\"> <span class=\"article-timestamp-label\">Updated:<\/span>  03:12 EST, 21 February 2022  <\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p> <!-- ad: https:\/\/mads.dailymail.co.uk\/v8\/us\/news\/none\/article\/other\/para_top.html --> <\/p>\n<p><!-- MOL-22124--><br \/>\n<!--[if !IE]&gt;&gt;--><\/p>\n<p>&lt;!&#8211;<br \/>\n<!--[if IE]&gt;--><\/p>\n<p><!--[if !IE]&gt;&gt;--><\/p>\n<p>&lt;!&#8211;<!--[if IE]&gt;--><\/p>\n<p><!--[if !IE]&gt;&gt;--><\/p>\n<p>&lt;!&#8211;<!--[if gte IE 8]&gt;&gt;--><\/p>\n<p>&lt;!&#8211;<\/p>\n<p><!--[if IE 8]&gt;--><\/p>\n<p><!--[if IE 9]&gt;--><\/p>\n<p><!--[if IE]&gt;--><\/p>\n<p><!--[if !IE]&gt; --><\/p>\n<p>&lt;!&#8211;<\/p>\n<p><!--[if IE]&gt;--><\/p>\n<p>  (function (src, d, tag){<br \/>\n    var s = d.createElement(tag), prev = d.getElementsByTagName(tag)[0];<br \/>\n    s.src = src;<br \/>\n    prev.parentNode.insertBefore(s, prev);<br \/>\n    }(&#8220;https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/static\/gunther\/1.17.0\/async_bundle&#8211;.js&#8221;, document, &#8220;script&#8221;));<\/p>\n<p><!--[if !IE]&gt; --><\/p>\n<p>&lt;!&#8211;<!--[if IE]&gt;--><\/p>\n<p>    DM.loadCSS(&#8220;https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/static\/gunther\/gunther-2159\/video_bundle&#8211;.css&#8221;);<\/p>\n<p><!--[if !IE]&gt; --><\/p>\n<p>&lt;!&#8211; <\/p>\n<p><!-- MOL-22124--><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Hospitals\u00a0will no longer be encouraged to promote \u2018natural births\u2019 over C-sections under plans to improve care for mothers and babies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The NHS<\/a> has abandoned targets aimed at limiting caesarean rates which assessed maternity units based on the number they carried out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">There were concerns these targets led to women pursuing natural births when a C-section would have been more appropriate, jeopardising their safety.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Previous advice in 2012 from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) advised NHS trusts to stick to a caesarean rate of around 20 per cent.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>  <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-91e1ab23ac51715e\" src=\"image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2022\/02\/20\/21\/54436417-10533313-image-a-97_1645393117637.jpg\" height=\"398\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Every woman and baby should have the safest birth for their particular circumstances \u00bf and the decision by the NHS to axe targets limiting caesarean rates will help achieve that\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" \/>   <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-91e1ab23ac51715e\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2022\/02\/20\/21\/54436417-10533313-image-a-97_1645393117637.jpg\" height=\"398\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Every woman and baby should have the safest birth for their particular circumstances \u00bf and the decision by the NHS to axe targets limiting caesarean rates will help achieve that\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" \/>  <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">The NHS has abandoned targets aimed at limiting caesarean rates which assessed maternity units based on the number they carried out<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">But a letter sent to maternity units by Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, NHS England\u2019s chief midwife, instructed them to \u2018stop using total caesarean section rates as a means of performance management\u2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">It added: \u2018We are concerned by the potential for services to pursue targets that may be clinically inappropriate and unsafe in individual cases.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The letter, reported by the Sunday Times<\/a>, follows a series of high-profile NHS scandals that have led to the avoidable deaths of dozens of mothers and babies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In some cases, these have been blamed on maternity wards pushing natural births over other means of delivery.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"rotator-panels link-bogr1 linkro-ccox\">\n<li>   <span>Covid infections plummet by 37% in a week to 25,696 cases&#8230;<\/span> <\/a>   <span>The Queen catches COVID amid Windsor Castle outbreak:&#8230;<\/span> <\/a> <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, which is at the centre of the largest maternity scandal in NHS history, had the highest natural birth rate in England for five out of the eight years between 2010 and 2018. A report looking into 1,862 cases of poor care at the trust \u2013 including dozens of baby deaths \u2013 will be published next month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In July a report by the Health and Social Care Committee found that a \u2018debilitating culture of blame\u2019 has prevented the NHS learning lessons from previous tragedies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The report added that pressure for vaginal births has put women at risk, saying: \u2018It is deeply concerning that maternity units appear to have been penalised for high caesarean section rates.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Dr Jo Mountfield, vice president of the RCOG, welcomed the plans to abandon the targets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">She said: \u2018These targets are not appropriate in individual circumstances. Both vaginal and caesarean births carry certain benefits and risks, which should be discussed with women as they choose how they wish to give birth.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>            <!-- ad: https:\/\/mads.dailymail.co.uk\/v8\/us\/news\/none\/article\/other\/inread_player.html --><\/p>\n<p>      <\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Comments <span class=\"readerCommentsCount\">178<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>\n\t    Share what you think\n          <\/p>\n<ul id=\"rc-tabs\" class=\"js-links dm-tabs cnr5 cleared\">\n<li class=\"dm-tab dm-tab-on bdrgr5 cnr-bdr wogr5 link-wox js-active\">\n        <span class=\"xogr5 tl\"><\/span><br \/>\n        <span class=\"xogr5 tr\"><\/span><br \/>\n        Newest<\/a>\n      <\/li>\n<li class=\"dm-tab bdrgr5 ow-igr2-bx cnr-bdr xogr2 link-gr5ox\">\n        <span class=\"xogr5 tl\"><\/span><br \/>\n        <span class=\"xogr5 tr\"><\/span><br \/>\n        Oldest<\/a>\n      <\/li>\n<li class=\"dm-tab bdrgr5 ow-igr2-bx cnr-bdr xogr2 link-gr5ox\">\n        <span class=\"xogr5 tl\"><\/span><br \/>\n        <span class=\"xogr5 tr\"><\/span><br \/>\n        Best rated<\/a>\n      <\/li>\n<li class=\"dm-tab bdrgr5 ow-igr2-bx cnr-bdr xogr2 link-gr5ox last\">\n        <span class=\"xogr5 tl\"><\/span><br \/>\n        <span class=\"xogr5 tr\"><\/span><br \/>\n        Worst rated<\/a>\n      <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The comments below have not been moderated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"bold pad5 wogr5 rc-info\">\n      The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.\n    <\/p>\n<p>  <\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"rc-title bdrgr2\">We are no longer accepting comments on this article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NHS axes targets for natural births as C-section limits are dropped to improve standards of care The NHS has abandoned targets aimed at limiting caesarean rates\u00a0 There were concerns these targets led to women pursuing natural births\u00a0 By Eleanor Hayward Health Correspondent For The Daily Mail Published: 17:05 EST, 20 February 2022 | Updated: 03:12 <a class=\"read-more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/nhs-axes-targets-for-natural-births-as-c-section-limits-are-dropped-to-improve-standards-of-care\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-286731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286731\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}