West Kent is the best place in the country to have a baby, official figures have revealed.

The NHS has carried out a review of maternity services provided by 209 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) across the country.

The services were assessed according to four factors: stillbirth and neonatal mortality rates, maternal smoking rate at delivery, and experience and choice.

Only the West Kent CCG scored the highest score of “top-performing” in the new Ofsted-style rankings.

While it was great news for mothers in Maidstone, Malling, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells – the area covered by West Kent - the report was in general pretty damning of services offered elsewhere, with three quarters of all CCGs needing to improve.

Only 53 were classed as performing well.

The assessments were made as a baseline in which to judge the effectiveness of future improvement programmes.

The data has been published as part of a transparency drive by Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, in an effort to improve Britain’s “shocking” place in international league tables.

The UK currently has higher rates of stillbirth than Poland, Croatia or Estonia.

The 11 worst areas in the country for maternity services were Milton Keynes; South Warwickshire; Wolverhampton; Nottingham City; East Riding of Yorkshire; Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield; South Tees; Bradford Districts; Hull; Slough and South Gloucestershire.