THE trust which runs Winchester hospital still appears to be setting targets for caesarean sections, despite insisting that this is not the case.

As previously reported, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (HHFT) said targets set in its board of directors’ meeting papers in April regarding c-sections were an “error”.

The trust received a letter from Maureen Treadwell, who is on the government’s Maternity Transformation Stakeholder Council, highlighting the “dangers” of setting c-section targets.

The trust said at the time that the target was an “error”. However, its July meeting papers still refer to a ‘monthly goal’.

Figures in the trust’s meeting papers show that more women have caesareans at its hospitals than the national average.

According to its July report, it failed to meet its target set against a ‘monthly goal’ since June last year, with a monthly average of 35 per cent, against a goal of 29 per cent.

Any months which exceed 29 per cent are graded as red or amber on the trust’s internal traffic light system quality scorecard.

‘Red’ means “the trust is not performing well, showing a large deviation from the monthly goal”.

Some measures listed on the scorecard are not given a traffic light rating, such as the number of full-term babies admitted to neonatal units, suggesting there is no target for this.

HHFT previously said that is maternity services “do not set targets around the number of caesarean sections performed each month” and that the benchmark in the report in April was an error.

However, the monthly goal is still being reported in the meeting papers three months later.

Maureen Treadwell previously told the trust: “Caesareans should be offered when they would benefit the mother or baby i.e. when there is a clinical indication or where the mother makes an informed decision to give birth by caesarean.

“They should never be restricted because of 'targets'. It is immensely dangerous and can lead to brain damage and death in babies and serious harm to women because it risks 'tilting' clinical judgement and denying choice. Litigation claims for brain damage and obstetric harm in the NHS are the highest of all specialisms.”

Ms Treadwell, from Stockbridge, who is also a collaborator on two major NHS funded research programmes focused on reducing maternal and neonatal harm, said she had written to NHS England more than once about setting caesarean targets, and said it confirmed there are none.

She added: “Many trusts have the misguided belief that caesareans cost more. In fact, taking litigation into account, the reverse is true. Most brain damage, although rare, arises as a consequence of complications of non-caesarean birth.

“I would suggest trusts who attempt to reduce caesareans on the basis of a misunderstanding of their costs also review their equality policy. Penny pinching on women's health is not acceptable.”

The trust has been asked for a comment.