How long does it take to deliver a baby by emergency Caesarean section?

This audit documented the current range of decision-to-delivery reaction ti mes for 464 emergency Caesarean sections performed in maternity hospitals w ith differing levels of facilities, and examined the reasons for any percei ved delay. The median (with 10th-90th percentile) times from when the decision was mad e to perform an emergency Caesarean section to the delivery of the child we re: 69 (37-114), 54 (28-94) and 42 (17-86) minutes in Level 1, 2 and 3 mate rnity hospitals respectively when the indication for delivery was urgent. L ess urgent emergency Caesarean sections took 70 (42-125), 66 (38-141) and 6 7 (35-164) minutes respectively. The main perceived reasons for delay in th e delivery were staff unavailability in Level 1 hospitals, theatre access i n Level 2 hospitals and anaesthetic complications in Level 3 hospitals. The refore the decision-to-delivery reaction times in the majority of urgent em ergency Caesarean sections are, in practice, much longer than the times com monly advocated and are influenced by the facilities and staff available.