By Pamela McGowan Health reporter

Last updated at 14:02, Monday, 26 October 2009

Hospital bosses have hit back at a report which claimed mums in north and west Cumbria were not being given a choice of where to give birth.

They say the National Childbirth Trust study – which put Carlisle and Copeland at the bottom of the national league table – is totally flawed.

The charity assessed every local authority area in the country and rated them in three areas – how far it was to the nearest obstetric unit, how far it was to the nearest midwife-led birthing unit and the percentage of home births.

Those where mums were within 30 minutes drive from both facilities came out on top, as did those with a home birth rate over five per cent.

But the report did not take into account either birth rate or geography – putting sparsely populated areas like Cumbria at a distinct disadvantage over the bigger cities.

Bosses at the Cumberland Infirmary, West Cumberland Hospital and Penrith Birthing Centre believe the area has been unfairly slated in the report.

They insist women in north and west Cumbria do get the best possible choice, despite being limited by population and geography.

They also stress that the quality of services provided in the area is among the best in the country – and this too has been ignored in the report.

The NCT conducted the survey to determine whether a Government pledge – that all women in England will have a choice of place of birth by the end of 2009 – had been met.

The findings have prompted claims that 95 per cent of mums are not getting that.

It placed Copeland and Carlisle in the bottom five districts nationally, as residents do not have both an obstetric or midwifery-led unit within 30 minutes. On top of this it said Copeland’s home birth rate was just 0.7 per cent and Carlisle’s just 0.9 per cent, indicating that women are not being offered this choice.

Allerdale fared slightly higher, with a 2.5 per cent home birth rate, while Eden was among the best performing – with 11 per cent of women having access to both types of unit and the home birth rate standing at 5.6 per cent.

But Anne Musgrave, head of midwifery at the North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, said the findings did not take account of the geography of Cumbria or birth rates.

“There is a low birth rate in Cumbria – last year there were a total of 1,354 births in west Cumbria and 1,878 in east Cumbria – which would make it impractical to provide more maternity-led units above the three units that we currently provide in Carlisle, Whitehaven and Penrith,” she said.

“The report has also not judged the quality of service. Our maternity units were best performing in the Care Quality Commission’s review of maternity services and were particularly marked out for providing high quality service and offering women choice.”

She explained that all expectant women in north Cumbria are provided with a choice where they would like to deliver their baby. A midwife, either in the hospital or community, discusses this with each mum-to-be and gives them a leaflet outlining the services and options available to them.”

She also stressed that the data used by the NCT was out of date, and the number of home births has risen significantly since then.

First published at 11:33, Monday, 26 October 2009
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk