'Too posh to push' must pay
Women choosing to give birth by Caesarean section on the NHS could be forced to pay for their operations unless they have a valid medical reason.
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice), which gives guidance on treatments, is to tell medics that a simple preference for Caesarean delivery is not an acceptable reason for operating.
Almost 10,000 women a year have "maternal request" surgical deliveries, with the NHS having to pay £25 million more than if they had natural births.
Women set on a Caesarean may now have to pay up to £5,000 for a private operation. It has been claimed some women are "too posh to push" and choose to give birth that way as a speedy, lifestyle option.
Fears have also been raised they could be diverting resources from those who actually need them. The new guidelines, which will not affect women who need Caesareans for medical reasons, would put elective surgical delivery on a par with cosmetic surgery.
The Countess of Wessex underwent an emergency Caesarean for medical reasons on Saturday night. Madonna, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Liz Hurley and Victoria Beckham have all had surgical deliveries.
Rates of operation in the health service have risen in the past decade, despite two in three requests being turned down.
But according to the World Health Organisation, more women could be given counselling and encouraged to endure the pain of natural childbirth - as well as having the dangers of surgery pointed out to them.
Babies born by Caesarean are seven times more likely to suffer breathing difficulties, and dangers to the mother include haemorrhaging and damage to the fallopian tubes or ovaries.
Around two-thirds of women who have had a surgical delivery also suffer pain for up to five months from their wounds.
Dr Rick Porter, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the Royal United Hospital, Bath said: "If a woman has no discernible reason, medically or psychologically, for a Caesarean, then I don't see why we should accede to that request.
"We don't have other areas of medical practice where we do unnecessary surgery." The NHS, he said, is "not a bottomless pit".
According to Mary Newham, head of policy at the National Childbirth Trust, women in the South-East are particularly prone to opt for Caesareans.
"They want to schedule when they are going to have their baby," she said. "It's not unreasonable for them to pay for that."
