1. Maternity
In 2007, the Government underlined the importance of providing high quality,
safe and accessible maternity care.
The figure below shows, there will be a rising number of live births in Barnet
over the next five years, placing increasing demand on maternity and
children’s services.
Table showing projected live births in Barnet between 2007 - 2013
Further information about Maternity services can be found in the appendix.
Key messages
More women over the age of 30 years are having babies in Barnet and
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those over 35 years are assessed as being an obstetric risk for delivery
and are more likely to experience, for example pre-clampsia, diabetes and
multiple births.
Currently most births in Barnet take place in hospital.
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Breast feeding coveys a number of benefits in early and adult life and
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evidence indicates it reduces the later onset of coronary heart disease and
diabetes. Barnet has an initial high uptake of breast feeding (90%) but this
falls to 32.1% at six to eight weeks.
London’s BME population is set to increase. 18% of Barnet’s births are
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from ethnic minority populations. Evidence indicates a higher ratio of
adverse health outcomes if appropriate services are not available to meet
their needs