Caesarean delivery (also known as a C-section) is an operation to deliver a baby. It can be performed when a vaginal delivery would be risky for the mother or the baby. However, the mother and/or baby may have serious complications from a Caesarean delivery, and women who have had one surgical delivery have more risk of complications during future births.
Health Quality Ontario Reviews Caesarean Delivery Rates in Ontario
To understand if Caesarean deliveries are being done only when necessary, it is important to know how many are performed in Ontario and what factors are associated with higher or lower rates. For example, how many Caesarean deliveries are for nulliparous (first-time) mothers and how many are performed for women who do not have a high risk of complications?
The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has accepted these recommendations.
The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has provided the following response: As recommended by Health Quality Ontario, the Better Outcomes Registry and Network (BORN) has an audit and feedback system for hospitals (the Maternal Newborn Dashboard) that tracks two indicators related to low-risk obstetrical population. BORN tracks the proportion of caesarean section births in low risk women done before 39 weeks gestation and the proportion of inductions of labour done before 41 weeks. BORN also provides data to Health Quality Ontario on a yearly basis.