UK doctors told to try and talk women giving birth out of having epidurals to save NHS money

Daily Mail (UK) | 04:38 EST, 31 August 2012 | By Sophie Borland

[DeaconBenjamin]

Family doctors are being told to try to talk women out of having Caesareans and very strong painkillers during birth to save the NHS money.

New guidelines drawn up for GPs urge them to encourage women to have natural labours with as little medical help as possible.

But for many women the prospect of giving birth without the painkillers is unthinkable.

And critics have said the move has been made without any thought for the women themselves.

The guidelines also remind doctors to tell women to consider having their babies outside hospital in midwife-run units or in their own homes.

Caesareans cost the NHS around £1,200 a time while epidurals – anaesthetic injections into the spine – are around £200.

The guidelines state that, as well as being expensive, they both slow down a mother’s recovery after labour and impede breastfeeding.

The advice does not suggest women should not be given any painkillers, such as gas and air which are commonly used.

However, it specifically tells doctors to try to reduce the numbers given epidurals and other anaesthetic injections into the spine.

The advice – drawn up by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Royal College of Midwives and the National Childbirth Trust – has enraged campaigners and some senior doctors.

Felicity Plaat, consultant anaesthetist at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital, London, said: ‘In the 21st century, where the resources are available, it’s unacceptable and unethical to withhold effective pain relief from women who require it.

‘Furthermore, only the woman in pain can decide whether and what analgesia, or pain relief, she needs.’

[edcoil]

How many foreign abortions does the UK government fund?

[DeaconBenjamin]

Doctors told to try and talk women giving birth out of having epidurals to save NHS money (as they cost £200 a pop)

In too much of a hurry.

[G Larry]

Socialists should be encouraged to save money by avoiding all medical care.

[popdonnelly]

All the medical care the government wants you to have!

[Tax-chick]

Hopefully a large number of women will invite the doctors to try giving birth themselves, first.

(This comment has been redacted from something much, much more forceful and descriptive.)

[Lorianne]

I bet they are not trying to talk them out of epidurals within arms reach of the women.

[CitizenM]

When it comes to abortions....Liberals/Progressives proclaim that women have a right to make decisions about their own bodies.

But when it comes to relieving pain - then women must submit to the government dictating how much suffering a woman's body should endure.

The Liberal/Progressive mind is a cauldron of contradictions.

[cherry]

..and I and them to start talking men out of having anesthesia when they get their prostates yanked....

[mrsmel]

And to think that we’ve been deprived of the wonders of socialised medicine, but not to worry, Obamacare’s trying to fix that.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***and very strong painkillers during birth to save the NHS money. ***

If I remember, painkillers during birth were not used until QUEEN VICTORIA used them in the birth of her children.

Then everyone started using them because if it was good for the Queen it was ok for everyone else.

Now it looks like it will be allowed for Royalty and high payers again.

Peasants be damned.

[JimC214]

When my wife gave birth to our children, all 3 times the hospital was encouraging the woman to have a natural child birth. No pain killers of any kind. But it was a choice and not a requirement. Also the reason given was that it was better for the child, not to save money as is the case of the NHS.

[heartwood]

After my third natural birth involved a nine and a half pound baby and shoulder dystocia, I went with the epidural for the fourth.

Cons: lost mobility, was attached to eight different monitors or tubes, and felt like the machines were doing the birth for me.

Pros: no vomiting and diarrhea from the pain, no looking at the baby and thinking, if you were anyone else I’d hunt you down and kill you. The fastest recovery; pain is a shock to the system.

No impairment of breast-feeding - arms and breasts aren’t affected for goodness’ sake.

[Beowulf9]

Coming soon to a country near you:)

[DPMD]

Everybody knows that if they want the funds to supply the epidurals, all they have to do is raise taxes. Again and again. That’s not asking too much, is it?

Other people’s money. Maggie Thatcher.

[Lockbox]

that’s the problem with free health care, you get what you pay for.........

[DesScorp]

But...but... but... government health care means improved care, right? Hello? Bueller? Bueller?

[Tax-chick]

I had epidurals for nine out of ten of my deliveries. No problems to me or to the baby at any time. (The other, #6, was a posterior breech delivery, without anesthesia. I don’t remember much about that. Fortunately, he wasn’t very large.)

I have never, in over 20 years, met a doctor, and very few nurses, who had any good information at all regarding breastfeeding. It’s been a little better in the last few years, maybe just because of the hospital we use, but I’ve been told the most absolutely dead-wrong things, even by “lactation specialists.”

[Right Wing Assault]

try and talk

Now the Brits don't even know grammar?

[Tax-chick]

The first line of the article says “try to.” Maybe the headline writer is a little less educated.

I can see, eventually, a new word, “tryen,” which is an auxiliary verb just as “have” or “were” are. “I will tryen call you later.” “Doctors will tryen persuade women to accept avoidable pain.”