Sterilisation at caesarean section--an audit from a district general hospital

Rochdale Infirmary serves a population of 210804, and the obstetric unit delivers approximately 1500 babies every year. There were 655 female sterilisation procedures performed here during 1997 - 2001, of which 134 were those performed at the time of caesarean section (20.5%). An audit of women undergoing sterilisation at caesarean section was undertaken in our unit over a 1-year period in 2001. The auditable standards used for benchmarking were the guidelines published by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' (RCOG) Clinical Audit and Effectiveness Support Unit on female sterilisation, although other literature has been drawn in for the discussion. The results of the audit highlighted the gaps between rhetoric and reality in many of the standards, and offered a practical solution through recommendations based on the audit process.