This field contains the number of the episode within the current spell. All spells start with an episode where epiorder is 01. Many spells finish with this episode, but if the patient moves to the care of another consultant, a new episode begins. Episode numbers increase by 1 for each new episode until the patient is discharged (this includes transfers to another NHS trust or primary care trust - ie the first episode in the new trust will have epiorder 01). If the same patient returns for a different spell in hospital, epiorder is again set to 01.

Admissions are calculated by counting the number of times epiorder is 01. When studying long term care, remember that it is not unusual to transfer psychiatric patients from one hospital to another.

2n = The number of the episode in the sequence of episodes from 01-87

98 = Not applicable

99 = Not known

null = Not applicable: other maternity event