§ Mr. CatonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the health risks for(a) mother and (b) baby in delivery by Caesarean section. [172387]
§ Dr. LadymanThe National Institute for Clinical Excellence issued clinical guidelines on the use of caesarean section on 29 April. The guideline will be a useful tool to advise clinicians of best evidence on when to perform a caesarean section and when not to perform one. It also emphasises the appropriate care women and their babies need before, during and after the procedure. The guideline will also ensure that when considering a caesarean section, there should be a discussion on the benefits and risk of caesarean section compared with vaginal birth. We support the need for women to be offered evidence-based information and support to enable them to make informed choices about their care during birth.
The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) has been established to focus our efforts to improve patient safety in the national health service to promote an open and fair culture and to run a new national reporting and learning system for patient safety incidents including those involving mothers and their babies. The NPSA has begun a programme to roll out this system, launched at NPSA's conference on 25 February 2004, across NHS organisations during 2004.
§ Mr. Alan CampbellTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many births were by Caesarean section in each maternity unit within Northumbria NHS Trust in 2003; and how many of these were(a) emergency and (b) planned procedures. [170421]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonEstimated1 numbers of emergency and planned caesarean deliveries at North Tyneside General Hospital for 2002–03 are shown in the table.
1Available data on delivery method from 1,552 records are grossed to known number of deliveries. Type of delivery Number Planned caesareans 130 Emergency caesareans 193 Total deliveries by caesarean 323 Total deliveries 1,604 Source: Hospital Episodes Statistics. Further information can be found at www.publications.doh.gov.uk/public.sb0410.htm.