Sir – I received your article (Midwives’ president presented with CBE Report, November 6) from a journalist who knows that I’m interested in this topic. As an academic obstetrician/gynaecologist with 28 years’ experience in clinical research please let me express my dismay.

You quote a UK midwife as saying “Maternity policy in the UK is the most progressive in the world”.

For me, as an outside observer, UK maternity policy means an utter obsession with Caesarean section rates.

A policy of increasing pain and suffering in childbirth due to a strong bias against effective pain relief, a policy of increasing pelvic floor damage due to increasing use of forceps rather than vacuum, a policy of endangering women’s and babies’ lives by pushing them to opt for vaginal birth after Caesarean and vaginal breech delivery when both clearly are more dangerous than the alternative, ie elective Caesarean section.

A policy that’s responsible for maternal, neonatal and infant mortality rates all above the European average. And the worst thing is that such policies are being held up as a model to be emulated elsewhere.

Prof HP Dietz, Sydney, Australia