Information Governance Manager

Room 2.03

De La Court House

Queen Alexandra Hospital

Southwick Hill Road

Portsmouth

Hampshire

PO6 3LY

Tel: 023 9228 6000 Ext. 3708

Ref: 12-13 041

Date: 03 August 2012

Dear Ms Cruz

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

Please find below / attached the Trust’s response to your request.

1.  Could you provide a copy of your policy / guidelines pertaining to the management of vaginal births after caesarean?

Please note that the VBAC booklet is being updated and the final amended version is being produced. It will have the following amendments:

PAGE 3

Signs of Uterine rupture:

§  Continuous scar pain (still occurs with an epidural if in labour)

§  Vaginal Bleeding

§  Haematuria

§  Rising maternal pulse (MAY BE THE ONLY SIGN)

§  Acute fetal heart rate abnormalities (in labour)

§  Sudden cessation of contractions (in labour)

§  Retraction of the presenting part on vaginal assessment (in labour)

PAGE 4

Last sentence should read “You will have the opportunity to discuss you plans with a VBAC midwife at around 20 weeks and a Consultant at around 28 weeks.”

PAGE 5

Induction of Labour should say 12 not 10 days.

PAGE 6

Portsmouth maternity centre number needs changing to (023) 92680135.

2.  Please can you also supply a list of any exclusions / restrictions you would apply to a vbac birth? I.e. would you accommodate home births, water births, access to you midwifery led units or birth centres?

All mothers are advised that Queen Alexandra Hospital (B8) is where we would advise they have their babies, but we support individuals with choice of (B5) birth centre, or home with involvement from our supervisors of Midwives and the VBAC team where appropriate

3.  Could you also please advise on how these practice points alter (if at all) should the vbac follow multiple caesareans?

Mothers who have had more than one LSCS have the same opportunity to discuss their birth options and make a plan with Consultant VBAC midwife involvement - we do not have exclusion criteria.

4.  Could you also provide your most up to date vbac success rate statistics (2011 and 2012)?

5.  Your most recent statistics (2011 and 2012) relating to numbers of births, how many of these were unassisted normal births, how many were instrumental deliveries, how many were caesareans?

Excel document attached

6.  The most recent statistics (2011 and 2012) relating to how many of the caesareans were elective and how many were emergencies?

Excel document attached

7.  If available statistics (2011 and 2012) relating to how many planned vaginal births after previous caesarean resulted in normal birth and how many in repeat caesarean?

Excel document attached

This letter also confirms completion of the request. Please note that copies of this request will be held on file for three years before being confidentially destroyed.

If you have any concerns regarding the response you have received, you may ask the Trust to conduct an internal review. For further information on the Freedom of Information Act, including details of appeals and complaints, please contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at the following address:

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Tel: 08456 30 60 60

Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005

The supply of information under Freedom of Information is intended to be for personal use only and does not automatically give the recipient the right to commercially re-use it, for example, the right to publish it or make it available to a wider audience [SI 2005 No: 1515 4(1)]. Therefore, if this information is not for your personal use only you must apply in writing to this Trust. A licence may be issued as the information is under copyright and the issue of a licence may constitute a charge depending upon the information released and proposed re-use.

We do not permit the re-use of any staff personal information.

Failure to comply with the Regulations may result in legal proceedings being taken against you.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact this office.

Yours sincerely

James Taylor

Information Governance Manager