Birth statistics do matter, even in Cornwall (and here’s how to find them…)
One of the reasons I became a doula and an antenatal teacher was to help people face the experience of labour & delivery with a strong, informed and decisive mindset. Birth statistics are a key part of this, but not all healthcare providers - RCHT included - routinely share all or any of them with parents-to-be in an easy-to-understand way.
While this creates problems for pregnant families in Cornwall, it’s one that can be overcome…
What are birth statistics?
Birth statistics are the metrics that healthcare providers use to see the trends and patterns in births that they support.
There is no requirement for any healthcare provider to publish their birth statistics, and nor is there any requirement for what to share when they do.
Hospitals and healthcare providers can tell their audience whatever they like about the births that have happened recently in their organisations, but often they’ll feature some or all of the following:
Vaginal deliveries vs caesareans
Number of waterbirths
Breastfeeding rates
Boys vs girls
The busiest days / most babies born in a day
Heaviest and lightest babies
Numbers of twins or multiples
Homebirth rate
Rarely, do organisations tell us the following information about the births that happened recently in their organisation:
Spontaneous labour vs Induction rates
Rates of planned vs emergency caesareans
VBAC rates
Rates of 3rd or 4th degree tears
Rates of neonatal admission
Rates of homebirth transfer during labour / after birth
There’s a big variation in the type of data being published here.
The sex of babies born, the weight of the babies being born and the busiest days in the centre is never going to be useful to a person making a choice about where they are going to give birth.
None of these things (except a busy date, which has passed) will affect the type of birth someone has and so how this information is anything more than an ‘hmm interesting’ point, I am unsure.
But there’s also a lot of useful information that can be found in these reported birth statistics; the trick is knowing what you’re looking at and what you’re looking for.
What can birth statistics tell us?
Numbers don’t lie: some stats can act as smokescreens or be ornamental, but when you know what you’re looking for and what they represent, it’s possible to get a clear picture of the birth climate you’re looking at.
And as a doula, this sort of analysis is what I spend a lot of my time doing…
For the trusts and providers that choose to share their statistics, there is plenty of useful data to be had.
High rates of spontaneous labour, homebirth, waterbirth, vaginal deliveries, VBAC success rates and breastfeeding all point towards a provider that is skilled and experienced in supporting ‘natural’, physiological labour.
On the other hand, higher caesarean and induction rates, and statistics relating to interventions or assistance relate more firmly to how medicalised the form of birth support is, and therefore how comfortable the staff are with providing it.
Trust me when I say this matters. It matters loads.
Knowing the bias of a location towards medicalised or physiological birth is key in allowing people to choose a birth place that is more experienced and therefore likely to support their goals and preferences for birth.
For someone wanting an undisturbed or physiological labour this will look very different to someone who feels safest with a more obstetric and medicalised form of care. Knowing this information allows them to make an informed and pragmatic choice.
Do people in the UK use birth statistics to make choices?
Absolutely, they do!
In some places in the UK, the usefulness of birth statistics is actively acknowledged. Take Gloucestershire for instance. Here there are 3 places to give birth within half an hour of each other:
Delivery suite at Gloucester Royal Hospital
And that’s alongside the NHS homebirth team and the at least four private midwives available in the area. Each location has an Instagram pages that publish their birth statistics on a monthly basis using an easy to understand ‘infographic’ format.
This is supported further by NHS Gloucestershire Hospital Trust who publish a monthly maternity spotlight detailing these statistics openly for all to read and access, whether they have social media or not.
Why? Why? So that parents-to-be can see for themselves what a ‘normal’ or ‘typical’ birth in each of these locations looks like - even within a birth centre, midwifery-led setting - and decide which one best suits them.
Using that logic, it’s easy to see why the fact that Cornwall’s maternity system doesn’t routinely publish its birth statistics might not be such a big deal.
In Cornwall, we have one maternity hospital - RCHT Treliske - featuring a delivery suite and alongside birth centre. and two stand-alone birth centres (Penrice & Helston). And while distance wise, the locations are not much further apart than they are in Gloucestershire, Cornwall’s roads and infrastructure are very different.
For many of the families I work with in antenatal classes and as a birth doula, the choice here of where to birth is often fuelled less by the type of birth experience wanted, and more to do with travel time and ambulance transfer availability should something go wrong.
And so, it’s reasonable to conclude that birth statistics aren’t useful to Cornwall’s pregnant community. And perhaps they’re not missed or looked for by Cornwall’s parents-to-be as they plan their birth …
Except that, actually, they are.
I know that because I get asked about them all the time.
Does it matter than Cornwall hospitals don’t publish birth statistics?
Well, that depends on you.
If you are genuinely not bothered about the way that your baby comes into this world (other than safely) then no, it doesn’t matter. But if you do, then that’s another matter…
I started teaching antenatal classes and providing doula support in Cornwall in 2023, and since then I have been routinely and regularly asked about Cornwall’s birth statistics. But not always immediately.
Often, when I first ask an expectant couple where they plan to give birth, the answer is normally ‘the birth centre at Treliske’ but then we start our course. As we wind our way through the ins-and-outs of spontaneous, natural labour, the processes of induction and the pros and cons of caesareans, the questions start to come out. Birth statistics always feature in those questions.
Once we dig into it, clients really do want to know…
how many births happen at home and in our free-standing birth centres.
what the transfer rate is from our birth centres to delivery suites.
what the induction and caesarean rates are.
what the breastfeeding success rate is.
They’re asking me this because the information has never been made available to them. Before we had the conversation, it had never dawned on them to consider this in their planning and preparation for birth. But now they know what they know, their choice is becoming more informed and these statistics can’t be avoided…
The reality is that Cornwall has four birth locations and an active NHS homebirth team.
Each of these are designed to support very different forms of birth. Choosing between them should not be about distance, but about the type birth that’s likely to happen there.
The easiest way to understand what that is, is through statistics. Not every statistic, of course, and you also need to look at them with knowing eyes (which is a key part of my antenatal courses) but the numbers here are the starting point.
The numbers allow you to make up your own mind.
Without them, you’re left to other people’s advice, hearsay and horror stories - none of which are a reliable source of information.
How to find Cornwall’s birth statistics that matter?
Without regularly published, user-friendly infographics, finding Cornwall’s birth statistics can be a bit tricky, but it’s not impossible.
Here are three ways to get the information you want to make the decisions you need to about the birth of your baby:
National maternity dashboard: enter the dashboard and select the maternity trust you’re looking for (in Cornwall this is the Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust) and start exploring the metrics and categories.
Freedom of information request: if you’re looking for data which has not been published on the National Maternity Dashboard, you can request it specifically from the data managers at the hospital. You must do this in writing or via email, and you will receive a personal response with the data you’ve requested (if it’s been recorded and is available).
Get help unpicking the data: my Power Hours are here to help people understand their options and make strong, powerful decisions. That can include looking at birth statistics, exploring what they mean and how they can be used to make those game changing decisions.
Choosing where and how you want to give birth to your baby should always be a ‘gut instinct’ type of thing (IMO), but that in itself requires information. Only when you know what all the routes ahead look like can you really let your intuition balance the pros and cons, and decide what feels right for you.
As a doula, I don’t track my birth statistics for the simple reason that it’s not my job to decide or influence how you give birth in any capacity other than to support what you want. But to do that, I need to pull in the information you need and help you make sense of it in a way that benefits you and your thinking.
This sort of support is unique to doulas; if you’re sitting there thinking that this sort of support would help you through pregnancy, birth and beyond, get in touch. We’ll start the conversation that could be the gamechanger you’re looking for.
