Only one in 40 women gives birth at home

12 Nov Daily Telegraph

Just one in 40 women now gives birth at home, down from one in three 50 years ago, according to figures which also show that the average mother has two children – the highest rate in decades. In 2010 in England and Wales, 2.5 per cent of women giving birth did so at home, down from 2.7 per cent in 2009 and 2.9 per cent in 2008, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). In 1960, the figure was 33.2 per cent, but it fell after NHS campaigns persuaded women to give birth in hospital because of poor housing.

A record low of 0.9 per cent was noted between 1985 and 1988. Midwives blamed NHS cost-cutting for the recent decline. Government policy in England is for women to be given a choice over where they give birth. The latest figures show that the South West had the highest percentage of women giving birth at home in 2010 (3.8 per cent) while the North East had the lowest (1.2 per cent).

Women aged 35 to 39 were most likely to deliver at home (3.5 per cent), compared with 1 per cent of the under-20s. The data also showed that women now have an average of two children each – the highest fertility rate since 1973. The multiple birth rate fell in 2010 to 15.7 per 1,000 women giving birth, compared with 16.4 in 2009. But this rate has risen by 6.8 per cent since 2000, with IVF treatment a major contributor as, on average, one in four IVF pregnancies results in the birth of twins or triplets, compared with one in 80 for natural conception. The shift away from home births took place largely between 1963 and 1974, during which time the number fell from 30 per cent to 4.2 per cent.

Louise Silverton, the deputy general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, said: “This continues a disappointing trend and one we want to see reversed. “I have no doubt that this fall is related to cost-cutting within the NHS which sees resources pulled out of the community and into the hospitals, all of which is going against this Government’s commitment to bring services closer to home.”

Elizabeth Duff, a senior policy adviser for the National Childbirth Trust (NCT), said: “It is disappointing to see this further reduction in the number of women giving birth at home in England, as we know that up to 11 per cent of pregnant women plan and hope for a home birth.” The cost to families of housing a second child is £60,000, research from HSBC bank shows. A typical three-bedroom house in Britain was found to be £59,500 more expensive than one with two bedrooms, a 38 per cent increase, and nearly two thirds (60 per cent) of parents with at least two children said that they had moved as a result of having a first or second child.