Maternity data

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) contains a wide range of maternity information which has been published annually since 2000-01.

The publication includes details of all births taking place in NHS hospitals (in England) excluding home births and those taking place in independent sector hospitals. This includes a wide range of information such as details of how the baby was born (method of delivery), complications, birth weight and gestation.

This information was historically reported separately from other HES data because it has a number of unique characteristics and issues which do not affect other aspects of the data. More information about these issues can be found in the maternity topic paper on HESonline.

Following a public consultation exercise in 2007 and changes in methodology, it is now possible (since 2006-07 data) to publish maternity HES data alongside inpatient and outpatient data on HESonline.

Data for 2008-09

For the 2008-09 publication, the HES maternity data was released in two phases (you can find details of which tables were released in which phase in the Maternity Phases document in the Related documents area). This was in order to enable us to release headline maternity statistics in a timely fashion. This approach will be reviewed before the 2009-10 publication is released, following consultation with users.

Key facts

HES maternity data for 2008-09 shows that:

• There was no significant change in the caesarean rate from 2007-08 to 2008-09, with the rate of caesareans being 24.6% in both years (154,814 caesareans in 2008-09 and 153,406 in 2007-08).
• The number of instrumental deliveries increased by 0.1 percentage points, accounting for 12.2% (76,742) of all deliveries where method of delivery was recorded, compared to 12.1% (75,253) in 2007-08.
• Almost three quarters (74.0%, or 243,215) of women with spontaneous deliveries spent a day or less in hospital after delivery in 2008-09, compared to 74.1% (196,055) in 2007-08
• More than a third of women (36.5%, or 182,279) had an epidural, general or spinal anaesthetic during labour. The equivalent figures were 149,497 (36.5%) in 2007-08
• 44.4% (157,672) of White women's babies weighed more than 3,500g (7lb 7oz) compared with 35.0% (9,734) of Black women's babies and 23.9% of Asian women's babies. In 2007-08 the proportions were 44.7% for White women, 35.1% for Black women and 23.8% for Asian women.

For a complete list of key facts please see the Maternity Key Facts file in the Related documents area on the right-hand side of this screen.

Data quality note, 2007-08

The quality of 2007-08 maternity data deteriorated in comparison to previous years, primarily for the 'place of delivery-actual' field. This was due to an error in the processing of SUS data in 2007-08. This error has now been rectified and will not affect 2008-09 data. Please refer to the data quality paper for more information.

Corrections

• A correction was made to Table 20: Duration of postnatal stay by method of onset of labour and method of delivery, 2006-07. Further details can be found in the 'Onset and delivery' and 'Antenatal/postnatal stay' sections.
• A minor change was made to Figure 1 (2007-08) 06/07/09, this is highlighted within the corrected document.

The Explanatory notes files contain introductions to all the tables available for any given data year.

The actual location where the delivery took place.

Status of the person conducting the delivery.

Type of anaesthetic (pain relief) given during labour or delivery.

The method used to induce (initiate) labour, rather than to accelerate it and the method used to deliver a baby that is a registrable birth.

An incision (surgical cut) made into the thinned-out perineal body to enlarge the vaginal orifice during delivery.

Antenatal: The number of days between the start of the episode and the date of delivery.
Postnatal: The number of days between the baby's birth and the end of the finished episode.

Complications occurring before, during and after the delivery.

The number of completed weeks of gestation according to the World Health Organization definition; which specifies time from the first day of the last menstrual period.

The weight of the baby in grams immediately after birth.

A variety of maternity data for individual NHS trusts and sites, this includes; method of delivery, method of onset of labour and various other selected statistics.

Miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies which resulted in a hospital stay.

Responsible statistician

The responsible statistician for this publication is Chris Dew, HES/SUS Analysis (Service) Section Head (enquiries@ic.nhs.uk, 0845 300 6016).

The copyright to the information we are disclosing is held by the Information Centre. The re-use of this information for any commercial purpose is subject to the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005. Should you wish to re-use this information in any way you must ask us for specific permission relating to that you wish to use. If we agree to such re-use it may be subject to licensing and may involve a fee. Applications for re-use should be submitted to copyright@ic.nhs.uk. No re-use should take place until you have formally asked for permission and we have informed you of our decision.