NEARLY one-fifth of expectant mothers taken to York District Hospital last year had their babies delivered by Caesarean section.

The figures tally with national averages, as a new report out today from the Department of Health reveals that Caesareans have increased four-fold in the last 25 years.

The percentage for women taken to York District Hospital was 19.5 per cent having their babies delivered by Caesarean, compared with an average of 21 per cent for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the hospital says that some of these operations were through personal choice.

The latest statistics have been criticised by the Royal College of Midwives which said many caesareans were "unwanted, unnecessary and a financial drain on the NHS". It has called for new guidelines to reduce the rate of surgery.

The figures, revealed in a new audit commissioned by the Department of Health, showed England had far exceeded the World Health Organisation's recommendation that ten to 15 per cent of births should be via Caesarean.

The audit, the largest ever attempted in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, also showed that three per cent of women were asking for a Caesarean for no medical reason.

Maternal request had "contributed to the increasing Caesarean section rate", the report stated, amid claims that modern women were "too posh to push" - choosing a Caesarean for lifestyle reasons rather than going through labour.

Several celebrity mothers, including Spice Girls Victoria Beckham and Mel B, All Saint Melanie Blatt, DJ Zoe Ball and actress Patsy Kensit, have opted for a Caesarean birth in recent years.

Frances Day-Stirk, the Royal College of Midwives' director of midwifery, said: "We are concerned that Caesarean sections are performed on women to day as a matter of course, rather than medical necessity."

The audit involved every maternity unit in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and included 99 per cent of all births over a three-month period.

Updated: 10:45 Friday, October 26, 2001