HEALTH bosses in East Lancashire have welcomed new guidance which encourages more women to give birth outside a hospital ward.


The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said hundreds of thousands more babies could be born at home or under the care of midwives.


The new guidance said home births and midwife-led centres, such as the birthing centres in Blackburn, Burnley and Rossendale, are better for mothers and often as safe for babies, as well as helping reduce the number of caesarean sections. 


East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust has already made great strides in promoting natural births, and earlier this year was named 'maternity service of the year' by the Royal College of Midwives.


Vanessa Hollings, general manager of the family care division, said nearly a third of women in the area are now choosing to give birth at the midwife-led units, rather than the doctor-led maternity ward at Burnley General Hospital.

This compares to just ten per cent nationally.


She said: “We are really pleased at the NICE guidance being issued which further confirms that what we are doing here in East Lancashire is right for women.


“Not all women need a team of doctors and at our birth centres women are encouraged to progress through birth at their own pace, surrounded by experienced midwives in a relaxed and peaceful environment. 


"The number of caesarean sections is a huge challenge for everyone but our birth centres have been really successful and the number of births taking place in these centres rises every year and feedback from mothers and families is that they are pleased with the care and experience they receive.”


“Since the birth centre model was established we now have as many as 30 per cent of women in East Lancashire giving birth within a birth centre environment with 36 per cent of these being water births. 


"The success of the model is predominantly down to the excellent team working of our staff and the positive relationships with women who have used the service who continue to be involved and advise us on the services we deliver.”


The trust's three birthing centres are the stand-alone unit in Park Lee Road, Blackburn, Burnley Birth Centre located within the Lancashire Women and Newborn Centre at Burnley General, and at the Rossendale Primary Health Care Centre in Rawtenstall.