Hospitals blamed for tough births

Labour can be a traumatic experience

A clinical environment and a lack of space during labour made giving birth more difficult and uncomfortable for many women, a survey suggests.

Nine out of 10 women said the physical environment in hospital had impacted on how well they coped with labour.

Not having sufficient space to try a range of different positions and move around was associated with a higher rate of emergency caesarean sections.

The National Childbirth Trust surveyed almost 700 women.

Birth rooms should be designed to meet women's needs Mary Newburn National Childbirth Trust

The survey found one in four women felt being in a labour room that looked more clinical than homely had a bad effect.

They disliked rooms with white walls, no comfortable furnishings and resuscitation equipment on view.

One in six (17%) women also said that too little space to move freely or walk around made their labour and birth more difficult.

Many women said they had no opportunity to control key aspects of their surroundings during labour.

Almost half (49%) were not able to control who came into the room during their labour - staff and visitors just entered without knocking first.

Two thirds (67%) were unable to control the temperature of the room, while two fifths (40%) had no control over lighting.

Dirty rooms

More women rated having a clean room as more important than any other factor - but one in 25 felt the room in which they gave birth was not clean.

Women also highlighted the importance of having privacy and opportunities to relax and feel at ease.

But 44% said they had to share toilet facilities with others, and 38% had too few pillows, bean bags and mats for comfort.

The NCT said the many aspects of the birthing experience had improved since a similar survey 2003 - but said more improvements were still needed.

Mary Newburn, Head of Policy Research at the charity, said: "Birth rooms should be designed to meet women's needs.

"Women need to feel relaxed, comfortable and uninhibited.

"This means having a clean, spacious room, privacy (including use of your own toilet without having to go down the corridor), being able to dim the lights or open a window, and having plenty of pillows.

"Our research shows that some environments make labour more difficult for women rather than helping them to have the kind of birth they want."

Cheap action

Ms Newburn said many changes would not cost a lot of money.

"Beds can be moved to the side of the room to give women more space to move around, people should be asked to knock before entering, and rooms should be made to feel more homely without lots of clinical equipment in view.

"It's also vital that women's priorities are considered when maternity units are being rebuilt or refurbished."

A Department of Health spokesperson said: "While we accept that some women might feel the presence of equipment on maternity wards is overly clinical, we regard the safety of the mother and baby as paramount.

"In 2001, the Government made £100m capital funding available to ensure that pregnant women have access to improved maternity services by improving the environment in which their care is provided.

"The extra money was used for a range of improvements including the modernisation of antenatal units, upgrading amenities, providing new equipment, and improving privacy as well as increasing facilities for bereaved families."