The combined assisted delivery rate in Australia in 1999 was 11.1%. Forceps births accounted for 5.6% (6.3% in 1998) and ventouse births were 5.5% (4.9% in 1998). There is a growing trend in Australia for doctors to use a ventouse in favour of forceps for assisted births, if possible. The expected ideal is to have a combined assisted delivery rate of about 5 to 8 %. Assisted delivery rates vary greatly from caregiver to caregiver, hospital to hospital, state to state and country to country. Often a higher Caesarean rate will mean a lower assisted delivery rate and visa versa, in some cases both rates will be high or low.
Below are the latest available figures on assisted delivery rates in Australian states. At present only NSW actually publishes the individual statistics of every maternity hospital in the state. Assisted delivery rates can vary from 2.3% to 24.9%, depending on the hospital.
If you wish to look at the actual rates of interventions, including assisted deliveries, in every NSW hospital for 2000 you can click on the link and download Part 7. You will need Acrobat Reader to look at the PDF document.
NSW Health Department
The overall assisted delivery rates for all Australian states in 1999 were: