I congratulate BirthChoiceUK for their work in getting information to parents-to be and to maternity services units throughout the country.
The All Party Maternity Group in Parliament is keen to see as many women as possible offered a successful and normal birth in which women are properly supported and medical intervention happens only where necessary. Sadly we are seeing increasing caesarean rates and increasing interventions which are not justified by clinical evidence. These interventions also tend to reduce women's confidence and satisfaction in giving birth.
Birth is a very precious time and the work done by BirthChoiceUK is important in helping to raise awareness of these issues. In 2002 for the first time the All Party Parliamentary Group on Maternity used the BirthChoiceUK statistics to award certificates to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital NHS Trust Consultant Maternity Unit who with the midwife-led units at Bridgnorth, Ludlow, Oswestry, Shrewsbury and Wrekin, was the maternity service with the most normal births. Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust and South Devon Healthcare NHS Trust, received the awards for the best home birth rates. We hope to see these rates across the country increase over the years as an indication of women being put more and more in control of childbirth.
For more details on the All Party Group on Maternity Services please contact me directly at the House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA.
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