“There is no target for the rate of caesarean sections in England”

The Department of Health confirmed today that “there is no target for the rate of caesarean sections in England.” and it “never set an official target for caesarean sections, believing instead that focusing on promoting ‘normal’ is the best way to reduce interventions.” This follows a week where statements have been made by various health professionals using the old recommendation from the World Health Organisation (15%-a figure retracted in 2009) to boost their argument that maternal request planned caesareans without medical grounds should be banned.

There are very good reasons why this target rate has not been adopted in England and those contributing to the highly emotive debate on maternal request caesareans should check their facts before inflaming the debate with inaccurate information.