22.11.10
Wide variations in maternity care
Women’s experience of maternity care varies widely according to which hospital they use, according to a report from The NHS Information Centre.
In some cases, women being treated in hospitals just a few miles apart experienced markedly different approaches to care, according to the Hospital Episodes Statistics maternity report 2009-10.
However, wide variations in care were also apparent in trusts either neighbouring each other or within the same region. For example, the percentage of women to have their first antenatal appointment within the recommended first 12 weeks of pregnancy at Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust (87.6 per cent) was five times the percentage in neighbouring Barnsley Hospital NHS Trust (17.2 per cent). The caesarean percentage at Hereford Hospitals NHS Trust (30.3 per cent) was almost twice that of neighbouring Shrewsbury and Telford (15.8 per cent).
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