PERFORMANCE: Commissioners have told Heatherwood and Wexham Park NHS Foundation Trust to reduce its rate of babies born by Caesarean section.
The warning came late last month, shortly before the trust announced it would temporarily close a birthing centre at Heatherwood hospital in Ascot due to staffing problems.
An integrated quality report by NHS Berkshire said 26 per cent of mothers at the trust were giving birth by caesarean section. “There is a need to demonstrate improvement in this area which has eluded the trust for the past 18 months”, the report said.
Heatherwood and Wexham Park is contracted to maintain a caesarean section rate of 23.5 per cent for 2011-12, but performance fluctuated throughout 2010-11, averaging 25.6 per cent with a peak of 28.4 per cent. This was little improvement on performance for 2009-10.
NHS Berkshire also recommended that birth to midwife ratios be improved, though acknowledged that plans were in place to tackle the problem.
The report said there were 46 whole time equivalent vacancies in July, with a birth to midwife ration of 1:38 across the trust in that month. A recruitment and retention campaign is ongoing, and Heatherwood and Wexham Park plans to bring the ratio down to 1:33 in October.
Newly qualified midwives were recruited from Portsmouth, and the trust has plans to hire another 21 WTE between September and January.
Source date
September 2011
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