Official NHS statistics for England show that emergency caesarean rates continue to outstrip planned operations.

The numbers suggest that apart from some significant regional variations the country's overall caesarean rate has remained static which is almost a quarter of all births.

Babies at Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust have double the chance of being born by Caesarean as those in Nottingham since they are "too posh to push". London trusts had the highest rates of emergency caesareans.

The lowest rate of emergency Caesareans was seen at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence has issued guidelines under which women have no automatic right to an elective Caesarean and should be counseled if found fearful of childbirth.

On the other hand a number of prominent doctors are of the view that women should be able to choose her mode of childbirth after being informed about the risks and benefits.

Some emergency Caesareans can be avoided by training the junior doctors better in carrying out instrumental births - using forceps or a ventouse to help deliver the baby when the second stage of labor is prolonged.

There are other socio-economic conditions which increase the rate of emergency. Obesity is one such condition which increases the chances of Caesarean.

The CEO of the NHS Information Centre, Tim Straughan, said that some hospitals will need to closely analyze the entire range of reasons why their rate was different from the national average.