Released 3 January 2023
Request:
- Please release figures detailing the number of caesarean sections carried out by the Trust between 1st June 2021 and 30th November 2022. Please categorise the data by elective, planned and emergency sections per month, I would like the data in these categories as the actual numbers and as a percentage of the total births that month.
- Please release figures detailing the number of still births and neonatal deaths at the Trust between 1st June 2021 and 30th November 2022 categorised by c-section or vaginal delivery.
Information disclosed:
University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust has been in operation since 1 April 2021, following the merger of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust and Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Information about the Trust’s hospitals can be found on our website.
Whilst we are in the process of aligning services under the merged Trust, our legacy maternity services continue to function individually to ensure there is no disruption to these services and our response below reflects this.
Please note in our response below an “elective caesarean” refers to one planned prior to the birth and not a procedure performed at the request of the birthing parent.
Our response for question 1 and relative to Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton; Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath; Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital, Brighton and Sussex Eye Hospital, Brighton is provided below:
| Month | Total Births | Elective Caesarean number | Elective Caesarean percentage | Emergency Caesarean | Emergency Caesarean percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun-21 | 393 | 74 | 18.8% | 71 | 18.1% |
| Jul-21 | 457 | 78 | 17.1% | 95 | 20.8% |
| Aug-21 | 426 | 73 | 17.1% | 85 | 20.0% |
| Sep-21 | 466 | 91 | 19.5% | 77 | 16.5% |
| Oct-21 | 486 | 69 | 14.2% | 111 | 22.8% |
| Nov-21 | 402 | 78 | 19.4% | 75 | 18.7% |
| Dec-21 | 380 | 76 | 20.0% | 80 | 21.1% |
| Jan-22 | 383 | 72 | 18.8% | 68 | 17.8% |
| Feb-22 | 344 | 63 | 18.3% | 66 | 19.2% |
| Mar-22 | 419 | 93 | 22.2% | 89 | 21.2% |
| Apr-22 | 353 | 81 | 22.9% | 69 | 19.5% |
| May-22 | 367 | 63 | 17.2% | 77 | 21.0% |
| Jun-22 | 365 | 67 | 18.4% | 89 | 24.4% |
| Jul-22 | 392 | 80 | 20.4% | 94 | 24.0% |
| Aug-22 | 397 | 85 | 21.4% | 79 | 19.9% |
| Sep-22 | 358 | 73 | 20.4% | 77 | 21.5% |
| Oct-22 | 384 | 76 | 19.8% | 89 | 23.2% |
| Nov-22 | 381 | 81 | 21.3% | 83 | 21.8% |
| Total | 7,153 | 1,373 | 19.2% | 1,474 | 20.6% |
In response to question 2 for these hospitals, during the period 1st June 2021 – 30th November 2022 there were 18 stillbirths; 12 were vaginal births and 6 caesarean births.
During the period 1st June 2021 – 30th November 2022 there were 24 neonatal deaths; 11 of these neonates were born by vaginal birth and 13 by caesarean.
Our response for question 1 and relative to St Richard’s Hospital, Chichester and Worthing Hospital, Worthing is provided below:
| Month | Total births | Elective Caesarean number | Elective Caesarean percentage | Emergency Caesarean | Emergency Caesarean percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun-21 | 369 | 57 | 15.4% | 87 | 23.6% |
| Jul-21 | 459 | 76 | 16.6% | 94 | 20.5% |
| Aug-21 | 403 | 52 | 12.9% | 93 | 23.1% |
| Sep-21 | 446 | 85 | 19.1% | 73 | 16.4% |
| Oct-21 | 408 | 58 | 14.2% | 84 | 20.6% |
| Nov-21 | 386 | 71 | 18.4% | 65 | 16.8% |
| Dec-21 | 371 | 68 | 18.3% | 63 | 17.0% |
| Jan-22 | 350 | 65 | 18.6% | 84 | 24.0% |
| Feb-22 | 348 | 60 | 17.2% | 74 | 21.3% |
| Mar-22 | 336 | 66 | 19.6% | 51 | 15.2% |
| Apr-22 | 347 | 60 | 17.3% | 81 | 23.3% |
| May-22 | 340 | 62 | 18.2% | 67 | 19.7% |
| Jun-22 | 363 | 71 | 19.6% | 66 | 18.2% |
| Jul-22 | 382 | 71 | 18.6% | 85 | 22.3% |
| Aug-22 | 408 | 79 | 19.4% | 85 | 20.8% |
| Sep-22 | 384 | 72 | 18.8% | 77 | 20.1% |
| Oct-22 | 403 | 65 | 16.1% | 82 | 20.3% |
| Nov-22 | 330 | 62 | 18.8% | 62 | 18.8% |
| Total | 6,833 | 1,200 | 17.6% | 1,373 | 20.1% |
In response to question 2 for these hospitals during the period 1st June 2021 – 30th November 2022 there were 25 stillbirths; 18 were vaginal births and 7 caesarean births.
During the period 1st June 2021 – 30th November 2022 there were 12 neonatal deaths*.
*We are unable to provide a further breakdown of birth methods associated with this data, as the numbers become too small to sufficiently anonymise. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) Anonymisation: Managing Data Protection Risk Code of Practice recommends that since the publication of information under the Freedom of Information Act ‘is to the wider world’ and therefore carries more data protection risk, information relevant to a small number of people should be anonymised to ensure identification is not possible. This guidance generally applies where data is relevant to ≤5 living people, as is the case here.
Section 40(2) [personal information] exemption was applied.