Maternity Care: Where to Give Birth in Yorkshire?
- Julia Kitching
- Mar 9, 2024
- 13 min read
Updated: Oct 9
Leeds Maternity, Calderdale & Huddersfield, Airedale or Mid Yorkshire Maternity - Pinderfields and Bronte Centre?
Which Hospital Trust is right for you? Which maternity unit will give you the kind of care, facilities and options that you are looking for? Maybe you are looking for a local maternity unit that also offers a birth centre that is connected to the hospital? Leeds and Pinderfields can give you this option. Maybe you would like a freestanding birth centre that feels like giving birth in a spa rather than in a clinical environment. If this sounds like you, then you might want to check out the Bronte Birth Centre in Dewsbury, which is under Mid Yorkshire Hospital Trust. You can birth your baby wherever you want to and it doesn't matter if you are already booked under a particular maternity trust. Transferring your care is easy.
Birth Choices
Deciding where to give birth is a really important decision. Giving birth is a magical and transformative experience and as you start to explore your options, you will discover that there are many birth choices available to you. Not only will you need to decide where to have your baby, but you'll also need to decide how you'd like to birth your baby and what birth experience you would like to have. From deciding on the room environment, to the support in the room, to the medication you would consider (if any), to the intervention and assistance options. It's a lot to think about. Having the support of a Doula can be really beneficial during pregnancy and birth and a Doula can help you to understand your options, birth choices and help you to make informed decisions.
One other key thing to consider when thinking about where to give birth, is which hospital trust you would like to receive your care from. Now, not everybody wants medical care when giving birth and you can decide not to receive any medical care at all and that is entirely your choice. Like with all these decisions, every decision is your decision and that's why it is important to be able to make informed decisions that are right for you and your baby. However, if you do decide to receive care from a local hospital Trust, which one would be right for you? Remember that you can give birth anywhere that YOU want.
Yorkshire Hospital Trusts - Maternity Care
In Yorkshire, there are a number of hospital Trusts and they all have their own ways of working within the maternity system, level of care and statistics. It is worth looking at these statistics, to decide which Trust will most likely give you the birth experience that you would like. Not all Yorkshire Maternity Hospital Trusts are transparent with their birth statistics and you might wonder why this is. Leeds maternity haven't produced any data since May 2024 and Barnsley Maternity Hospital do not provide informative data, that is clear or up to date. Some maternity trusts don't feel that sharing data with families about the number of inductions, casesarean sections, vaginal births, water births or home births that have occurred at their trust, is beneficial for families who are currently pregnant. They say that the data is only for people who have given birth at that trust and they can see that their birth is a statistic. e.g. if a woman has an unplanned caesarean section in the month of June, they can see that 26 other women also had an unplanned caesarean section in June too.
I feel that it is important that families know about these statistics during pregnancy, to allow them to make an informed decision. Knowing that you were a statistic is a nice to have, but what pregnant people really want to know is whether that hospital trust is likely to support them in having the birth that they desire. If 80% of women are induced at X hospital and you do not want your labour inducing, you are probably best to avoid that hospital.
Making Informed Decisions during pregnancy
When you decide to buy a new car, you don't usually go and buy the first car that you see. You would do some research. Maybe go for a test drive, research the reliability of the car. You would compare different makes and models, consider which cars have the equipment and features that you would like from a car. Maybe you would look at a Which? report and see which car comes out best, based on various research and opinions from the experts.
It's the same with where and how to give birth. Your birth experience is a really important decision to make, much bigger than choosing a car, yet we very rarely put the same amount time and effort into preparing for birth. Somehow, we see materialistic items as a priority and we make sure that we choose the right items for us. Your birth preparation needs to be your number one priority when it comes to having a baby and giving birth. When I work with clients, whether that's as a Doula or as a Hypnobirthing teacher, I support clients in being able to make informed decisions and the clients who do their research and become knowledgeable during pregnancy, are often those who have positive birth experiences. That doesn't mean that they always have the birth that they planned for. However, they are able to remain in control and feel confident in the decisions that they make.
West Yorkshire Maternity Hospitals
I have done some analysis on some of the local hospital Trusts in West Yorkshire. I wanted to include Barnsley Hospital Trust in my analysis, but unfortunately Barnsley Hospital haven't been very transparent with their data. Their infographic is not helpful at all. The pie chart that they've provided which shows the number of women who've had vaginal births, caesarean sections and instrumental births, has no figures. This means we don't know the exact numbers. They've also not included any data on the number of inductions. What we do know though, is the number of babies born, the lightest and heaviest babies, the busiest day, (not particularly useful for birth preparation), the number of babies born in water (1.3% in March 2024) and the number of home births (0 in March 2024). We also don't have any up-to-date data for Barnsley Maternity Services since March 2024, as of October 2025 when this data was updated. The pie chart for March 2024, would indicate that the majority of women either had major abdominal surgery (c-section) to birth their baby or instrumental deliveries. This is probably why the exact numbers have not been disclosed or updated. If you plan to give birth under the care of Barnsley Hospital, make sure that you ask lots of questions and fully understand your birth options and ask your midwife to provide you with recent statistics if you need to. It's important to know that you and your baby are being cared for correctly, with woman centred care and you are given informed birth choices.
Leeds Maternity Hospital Trust
The Trusts in West Yorkshire that I have been able to analyse the data from are Leeds Hospital Trust, Mid Yorkshire Hospital Trust, Calderdale and Huddersfield Trust, Harrogate District Hospital Trust and Airedale Hospital Trusts. I have looked at the data from October 2023 - August 2025.
Leeds Maternity have still not updated their maternity figures since May 2024 onwards. Leeds Hospital Trust have stated that they are currently working on reproducing their birth infographic, however we are still waiting for this data to be released and the back dated statistics too. It has been over a year since we have been able to understand Leeds maternity statistics, so pregnant families have not been able to make an informed decision about using Leeds maternity services. Is this data being withheld for a reason? Once this data is provided, I will update this blog with updated figures. However, due to the many months of not having any birth statistics available for Leeds maternity, I have decided to include Harrogate maternity hospital into the statistics instead. These figures will be updated regularly and start from May 2025. As soon as Leeds publish any figures, the data will be updated.
Leeds Teaching Hospital Maternity Care and Bradford Royal Infirmary Maternity Care
You might have seen in the media lately, that 14 maternity hospital trusts across the UK are being investigated for inadequate maternity care. The BBC (2025) stated that "fourteen NHS trusts are to have their maternity services examined over what has been described as "failures in the system", the government has said."
Two of those fourteen hospital trusts in the UK are located in West Yorkshire. these include Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust and Bradford Teaching Hospital Trust. The BBC (2025) stated that "maternity services at two Leeds hospitals have been downgraded from "good" to "inadequate" by the healthcare regulator, because their failings posed "a significant risk" to women and babies.
If you are currently pregnant and planning to use either of these hospital trusts for your maternity care, you might be feeling quite anxious. However, what you need to remember is that not everyone will receive poor care and the best way for you to improve your chances of having the birth that you would like is by being fully prepared and in a position to make informed decisions. You can do this in a variety of ways and this could involve hiring a doula to support you and your partner or by doing a Hypnobirthing course. Not only will feeling prepared allow you to feel more informed about the choices and decisions that you make, but it will make you feel more confident too.
Maternity Care in West Yorkshire
I have looked at 5 West Yorkshire Maternity Hospital Trust's and evaluated their induction of labour rates, emergency (unplanned) caesarean section rates, elective (planned) caesarean section rates, waterbirth rates, vaginal births, homebirths and the number of babies born in a birth centre (if applicable to that Trust). Data for induction of labour has not been made available for Calderdale or Airedale hospital, so this is something to definitely consider if you are planning to birth your baby at either of these Trusts. Ask your Midwife or Dr if they can provide you with the recent data if you are planning to give birth at Calderdale or Airedale hospital. This will help you to make an informed decision. I will keep this blog updated, as and when I receive up-to-date data.
Induction of Labour
You might think that induction of labour is not something that you are planning or want. However, it is still a good idea to have all the facts at your finger tips. A recent report from Dr Sara Wickham (2024) quotes that "Women who try to decline induction of labour often report being coerced by someone over-emphasising possible (but unlikely) risks to their baby." Dr Sara Wickham (2024) also says that "many women with so-called risk factors (and not actual medical problems) are now told they need induction of labour". In a recent survey, just over a third of maternity units in the UK showed induction rates varying from 19.2% to 53.4% (Taylor et al 2024). This doesn't include women who have received interventions to induce labour either, such as stretch and sweeps or elective caesareans.
Many women agree to inductions, based on a very tiny risk of waiting for their labour to start naturally. They then often find themselves being told that the hospital is too busy and their induction has to be delayed. They then become very anxious and worried, because they are told that induction is critical and then they are told to just sit and wait until it's their turn. (Dr Sara Wickham, 2024). Induction of labour is not always the right decision to make for you or your baby and that's why you need to fully understand the risks and make an informed decision, based on your individual circumstances.
Mid Yorkshire Trust have included statistics on their women who received inductions and then went on to require further assistance, such as caesarean sections or foreceps/ventouse. I have included this data in my analysis.
Analysis of Results
I have only included the monthly graphs from January 2025 - August 2025, due to the large amount of data now collected since October 2023. The average data graph does include all of the data from October 2023 up until August 2025 and if you wanted to see an individual month from October 2023-December 2024, please do get in touch with me and I can send this to you.
Average Birth Statistics For Yorkshire Maternity Hospitals
On average we can see from the data that all 5 analysed maternity hospitals in Yorkshire have very similar figures, for each of the birth types. There does appear to be a slightly higher chance of having a vaginal birth at Calderdale, with slightly lower rates of interventions such as foreceps/ventouse and elective c-sections. The unplanned caesarean section rates at Calderdale are however similar to those at Leeds and Mid Yorkshire.
Overall the % difference between all 5 maternity hospitals is very small.
Induction of Labour in Yorkshire
As you can see from the data, induction of labour rates across Yorkshire are pretty high. From the five hospital trusts that I analysed, only Leeds, Harrogate and Mid Yorkshire include their induction of labour figures (Up until May 2024 for Leeds and from May 2025 for Harrogate). Out of these three hospitals, Leeds had the highest rate of induction on average between October 2023 and May 2024. However, we do not have the data for Airedale or Calderdale, so their figures could be similar, significantly higher, or lower. The UK average for induction of labour in 2022-2023 was 33%. This is up from 22% in 2012-2013. This means that around 1 in 3 women in the UK are induced, which is up 11% in the last decade and means that induction of labour is pretty common in the UK. Some UK maternity Trusts have an induction rate as high as 50%.
Further Intervention After Induction of Labour
From the data provided from Mid Yorkshire Trust, we can see that the majority of women who are induced, then go on to require further intervention. This could be a caesarean section or needing their baby to be delivered via foreceps/ventouse. From research and studies that have been carried out world wide on induction of labour, we know that induction is more likely to lead to further intervention. Therefore, this data provided by Mid Yorkshire is not a surprise and not unique to Mid Yorkshire Trust. It is highly likely that the other four maternity hospitals that I analysed also have similar results.
Water Birth in Yorkshire
The number of women having a waterbirth, in any of the analysed hospitals is pretty low. We don't know whether this is due to lack of water birth pools being available, women being refused water births or maternal choice. Around only 3-4% of women give birth in water. If you birth your baby in a Mid Yorkshire hospital, you have a slightly higher chance, with an average of 5% of water births occurring.
Home Birth in Yorkshire
Home births are also incredibly low, with an average of only 1% of women giving birth at home. This could be due to a variety of factors, either maternal choice, clinical need or closure of the home birth teams. This is a real shame, because statistically home births are safer than hospital births for low risk women and not many women consider a home birth as an option, thinking that it is too risky. Many women are also put off when they hear of the home birth teams suspending their service so often. However, if you would like a home birth, do not be put off by the statistics. Booking a home birth in pregnancy is much easier than deciding during labour that you'd like to give birth at home. You can always change your mind at anytime and the home birth teams across Yorkshire open and close from one shift change to the next. A home birth could still be an option for you.
Bronte Centre Birth Centre
Thankfully the Bronte Centre in Dewsbury reopened in April 2024 and this is a fantastic birth centre for women wanting a birth that has a home from home feel. It is midwife led and a mid way option between a hospital birth and a home birth. Women who have visited and used the Bronte Birth Centre, have described it like a "spa."
The Bronte Centre in is a gorgeous place to give birth if a home birth isn't quite your thing or not an option. There are 4 delivery rooms, 2 which have birthing pools and all have private en-suite facilities. You can visit the Bronte Centre during pregnancy if you would like a tour to see if this is something that you would like. Just give the team a call to arrange a visit.
Since the Bronte Centre opened in April 2024, on average only 2% of people booked with Mid Yorkshire Trust, birthed their baby there. I would highly consider the Bronte Centre as a possible birth option and speak to one of the Bronte Centre midwives if you have any concerns or questions about birthing in this stand alone birth centre. The midwives will do all that they can to accommodate your birth here, even if you've been told that you are high risk. They will look at your individual circumstances and see what options you have, whilst also taking into account any safety issues for you or your baby. The risk of any intervention is much lower for women giving birth in the birth centre and your chances of having a positive birth experience is much higher. The midwives are highly trained at noticing any risks during your labour and can manage them accordingly. They will always put Mum and baby first and act quickly and effectively. The number of episiotomies carried out at the Bronte Centre since April 2024 is 0% and the number of women haemorrhaging is only 1%. This is significantly lower than hospital rates of episiotomies and haemorrhages. This is mainly due to higher rates of intervention occurring in hospital settings and resulting in an increase in episiotomies and haemorrhages. We know from research that intervention increases the risk of episiotomies and haemorrhage. A birth taking place in a birth centre involves a more physiological approach.
Caesarean Sections in Yorkshire
If we look at the rates of caesarean sections for the hospitals analysed, we can see that the figures are pretty high. Leeds and Calderdale have the lowest caesarean rates, for elective c-sections and Leeds and Airedale have the lowest for emergency/unplanned c-sections. However we have not seen the latest data for Leeds since May 2024.
Caesarean sections across the UK are on the rise. In 2023 31% of births are by caesarean section and 16% of these births are by elective c-section. In the last 20 years, the rate of c-sections have risen by 50%, from 1 in 5 births, to 1 in 3 births.
Given the high caesarean section rates, it's worth making a caesarean section plan. By knowing what happens during a caesarean section and knowing more about caesarean section recovery, this can help you to still have a positive experience if your birth plan A or plan B does not happen. I have written a book all about c-sections and you can buy a copy on Amazon. Anyone who hires me as their Doula, can receive a copy of my book absolutely free. It's called "Your Caesarean Section Journey Guide & Journal: Creating Birth Choices & Positive Journeys". It is for anyone who is planning an elective c-section, or for people who are just wanting to know more about c-sections to help them to feel prepared.
Making an Informed Decision for Birth
As you can see from the data analysed, there is a high chance of having an induced birth or a caesarean section. This might be something that you would prefer, do not want or it might be the safest option for you or your baby. However, to determine that, you need to be aware of all of your options and choices, know the facts, the risks and be able to make an informed decision that feels right for you.
If you would like any support in making an informed decision for your birth or want any help to prepare for your birth, my Antenatal Doula and Birth Doula support packages and my Hypnobirthing courses, cover birth preparation in great detail and I can help you to fully prepare for your birth and increase your chances of having a positive birth experience.
Visit my website to find out more and see how I can support you.
Julia x
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