Should c/s rates be published? Naming & shaming...

[Tobily]

Yeah, it's not a statistic that you can just blindly go by tho. Like you said Kelly, if the rate is 60-70% I'd want to know why. If it is because all the high risk cases are transferred there, then that's something you can take into account.

This is the thing - the large, public tertiary hospitals that get all the high risk and tough cases aren't the ones with the caesareans rates through the roof.

The hospitals with 50-80% c/s rates (and there are many) are private hospitals. They are hospitals where every birth is overseen by an obstetrician.

This is probably a dumb question.. but are the statistics available already if you want to know? Is this about publishing an article and naming the hospitals? or is it simply about making the information available? I guess I should have asked before voting huh. hehe.

All public hospitals are required to disclose their c/s rate.
About 10 years ago (coincidentally when the c/s rate started to rise) private hospitals in QLD began burring up about this being on the public record and they no longer have to disclose. The only indication a woman can get up here is to look at the rate of ALL private hospitals lumped in together, which can be found in the state perinatal data, or rely on the honesty of the hospital/obstetrician. I can tell you right now that the hospitals and OB's that are sporting those rates are NOT telling them to anyone who asks. Why should they? There's no one telling them they have to.

For everyone who doesn't understand why this matters, let's put it another way.

If you were wanting an elective caesarean, and the hospital you were planning to birth at wouldn't tell you how many caesareans they do, or wouldn't tell you whether you could have one until you were due, or already in labour would you not feel that critical information that you need to make an informed decision about where to birth was being with held from you?

For a woman who wants a natural birth, this information is absolutely imperative. In the work I do, I often see women who have obliviously booked into a hospital or taken on an OB with a caesarean rate that I know is going to make their natural birth an uphill battle all the way. There is little point planning for a natural birth, engaging a doula and then walking through the doors of a hospital with an 80% caesarean rate.

I'm sorry I really can't understand how anyone could object to women being able to access this information. It just baffles me.