Midwife toolkit reduces number of caesarean births

The number of C-sections has increased significantly nationally over the last decade, leading the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement to develop a toolkit to help midwives reduce these numbers.

This toolkit, which has been introduced at Princess Anne Hospital in Southampton, saw a 4% reduction in their number of c-sections over the last 18 months.

In 2007, 24% of births were by c-section. In 2008 this dropped to 20%, with just 16% of births by C-section in November.

The toolkit focuses on providing midwife-led, rather than medically-led care for pregnant women who had a C-section previously.

‘There are lots of benefits to a normal birth, so where it is safe to do so we would advise this for women if their previous C-section was uncomplicated,’ said Helen Barnes, the consultant midwife trainee who helped set up the project in Southampton.

• Related article on nursingtimes.net: Warning over caesarean diabetes link

• Need to keep ahead of nursing news and clinical developments? Let us help. Get a comprehensive round-up delivered free to your inbox every day. Simply click here, log in and select 'Daily news alert'
  

Have your say

You must sign in to make a comment.