FOI 25-039 Midwife-Led Birthing Centers
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 25-039 Midwife-Led Birthing Centers
- Request Date
- 21 Jan 2025
- Response Date
- 18 Feb 2025
- Information Requested
I am writing to make an open government request for all the information to which I am entitled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Please send me:
- The average wait time between an ambulance being called to a woman in labour at a midwife-led birthing centre, to it arriving at the closest obstetric unit? Please provide this information for a) 2024-2025, b) 2023-2024, c) 2022-2023, d) 2021-2022, and e) 2020-2021.
- The longest wait time between an ambulance being called to a woman in labour at a midwife-led birthing centre, to it arriving at the closest obstetric unit? Please provide this information for a) 2024-2025, b) 2023-2024, c) 2022-2023, d) 2021-2022, and e) 2020-2021.
- The average wait time between an ambulance being called to a newborn baby at a midwife-led birthing centre, to it arriving at the closest neonatal unit? Please provide this information for a) 2024-2025, b) 2023-2024, c) 2022-2023, d) 2021-2022, and e) 2020-2021.
- The longest wait time between an ambulance being called to a newborn baby at a midwife-led birthing centre, to it arriving at the closest neonatal unit? Please provide this information for a) 2024-2025, b) 2023-2024, c) 2022-2023, d) 2021-2022, and e) 2020-2021. I would like the above information to be provided to me as electronic copies.
- Response
The Scottish Ambulance Service has applied section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002 as information not held.
Public authorities are not required to create information in order to answer a request. There’s a distinction between creating new information, and compiling information. Where a request can be answered by compiling information from readily-available resources held by the public authority, this is not the same as creating new information. However, if collation of the information would require skill and complex judgement, the information is not held.
We do not hold incidents against a category of ‘Midwife-led Birthing Centres’. In addition, providing data about specific addresses cannot be produced without complex skill and judgement. This is because, although we hold information about incidents at specific locations and can report this at a postcode level, to report this at an individual address level we would be required to apply complex judgement. The reason for this is that there are multiple addresses within a postcode, there is also the potential for an incident to occur outside a premises and therefore not be attributed to a specific address.
We also would need to apply the same complex skill and judgement to ensure the conveyance of the patient to the closest obstetric or neonatal facility.
Individual Health Boards may hold information against patients who have attended midwife-led facilities and needed interventions.
Please see the attached sheet containing two tables detailing the total number of pregnancy incidents attended by the Scottish Ambulance Service inclusive of all locations. Of those incidents, we have broken it down into where labour had been indicated on the patient report form and where a delivery time had been noted for each financial year. We have included the average service time for each incident in minutes; this has been calculated from when the first ambulance was allocated to when the final ambulance to attend was cleared.
It is important to note that the time is calculated from when an ambulance is allocated to the incident to the point of clearing from the incident. These times are affected by a wide range of factors, including ambulance staff cleaning vehicles following patient transportation, supporting the ongoing care of the patient and on occasions providing statements to the police.
This information has been provided in two tables as a new clinical system is being phased in. This phased system has been in place since June 24 and involves a only portion of Scotland. There is the possibility that that an incident from the Terrapace 3 system could be counted in the Terrapace 2 system and therefore the figures in the table should NOT be added together.
- Response Documents
