THE number of maternity deaths in Britain has increased over the past three years with doctors blaming increasing obesity, older mothers and the drive towards “natural” birth.

An official inquiry is understood to have found that more mothers died from pregnancy and childbirth in 2003-05 than in 2000-02, when the figure was 261. The death rate is also believed to have risen slightly.

According to doctors, the factors include increased rates of obesity among pregnant women and higher numbers of immigrant women who fail to attend antenatal appointments. Immigrants are more likely to have health problems that lead to complications in childbirth.

Doctors also believe the trend for women to have babies later in life could have contributed to the increase. But some medical staff and patient groups also fear the NHS’s policy to encourage “natural” birth without medical assistance is putting women at risk by denying them medical care in pregnancy and labour.

Professor James Dornan, director of foetal medicine at the Royal Maternity hospital in Belfast, said: “Nature dictates that one in every 100 women will die while having a baby. The mortality rate in parts of Africa is now about 850 to 1,000 per 100,000. Left to nature that is what nature will do. I believe in women having choice but it has got to be informed choice.”

The findings by the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health follow studies that suggest the UK has some of the highest rates of maternity deaths in western Europe, at 13 per 100,000 live births, compared with eight in Germany and two in Sweden.

The Department of Health said it is not aware of any statistical increase in the overall maternal mortality rate. The department also believes Britain is one of the safest places in the world to give birth.

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