Skip to main content

Publication, Part of

Maternity Services Monthly Statistics, Final December 2023, Provisional January 2024, experimental statistics

Official statistics

Publication Date:
21 Mar 2024
Geographic Coverage:
England
Geographical Granularity:
Country, Regions, Hospital Trusts, Provider, NHS Trusts, Integrated Care Boards, Sub-Integrated Care Boards, Local Authorities, Hospital and Community Health Services, Hospital Sites
Date Range:
01 Dec 2023 to 31 Jan 2024

Current Chapter

Maternity Services Monthly Statistics, Final December 2023, Provisional January 2024, experimental statistics

View all

Next Chapter

Antenatal booking appointments
Page contents

Summary

This statistical release makes available the most recent monthly data on NHS-funded maternity services in England, using data submitted to the Maternity Services Data Set (MSDS).

This is the latest report from the newest version of the data set, MSDS.v.2, which has been in place since April 2019. The new data set was a significant change which added support for key policy initiatives such as continuity of carer, as well as increased flexibility through the introduction of new clinical coding. This was a major change, so data quality and coverage initially reduced from the levels seen in earlier publications. MSDS.v.2 data completeness improved over time, and we are looking at ways of supporting further improvements.

This publication also includes the National Maternity Dashboard. Recently, Statistical Process Control (SPC) charts were included in the National Maternity Dashboard for the first time. These can be accessed via the CQIM+ page in the dashboard.

Data derived from SNOMED codes is used in some measures such as those for smoking at booking and delivery, and birth weight, and others will follow in later publications. SNOMED data is also included in some of the published Clinical Quality Improvement Metrics (CQIMs), where rules have been applied to ensure measure rates are calculated only where data quality is high enough. System suppliers are at different stages of development and delivery to trusts. In some cases, this has limited the aspects of data that can be submitted in the MSDS.

To help Trusts understand to what extent they met the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST) Maternity Incentive Scheme (MIS) Data Quality Criteria for Safety Action 2, we have been producing a CNST Scorecard Dashboard showing trust performance against this criteria. This dashboard, now rebranded as the Maternity and Neonatal Programme MSDS Data Quality Priorities dashboard, can be accessed via the link below.

These statistics are classified as experimental and should be used with caution. Experimental statistics are new official statistics undergoing evaluation. More information about experimental statistics can be found on the UK Statistics Authority website.

The percentages presented in this report are based on rounded figures and therefore may not total to 100%.

Publication data files and suppression methodology

This publication contains three separate CSV files for the reporting months: one set for the final (December 2023) data and one set for the provisional (January 2024) data.

The contents of the three files are as follows:

• CSV Data: Aggregate figures based on the MSDS, for a standard set of metrics including the total numbers of booking appointments, deliveries, and babies born within the reporting month. Breakdowns are provided at several organisational and regional levels including National, Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS), and Provider (trust).
• Data Quality:  Counts broken down by provider, showing the VODIM (Valid, Default, Invalid, or Missing) status of the records submitted for each data field within the MSDS. This file contains information about data quality only and should not be used to assess activity and outcomes. It reports on all the data provided at submission and will include information about records that are not included in the final analysis contained within the other two CSV files.
• Measures:  Aggregate figures based on the MSDS, for several specific sets of metrics including but not limited to those for Clinical Quality Improvement Metrics (CQIM), Continuity of Carer (CofC), mother's body mass index (BMI), and the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle v2 (SBLCBv2). Breakdowns are provided at several organisational and regional levels including National, Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS), and Provider (trust). This file only contains CQIMBreastfeeding6to8Weeks figures for final data, not provisional data, as this metric requires Community Services Dataset (CSDS) records which are not available within the required timeframe.

This publication is accompanied by a Metadata file located on the MSDS guidance hub which contains more granular detail about the contents of the above files, including information about the definitions and logic used in their construction.

In accordance with the suppression methodology guidance for this dataset, rounding has been applied to all figures as follows: counts of zero are shown as zero, counts of 1-7 are rounded to 5, and all other counts are rounded to the nearest 5, with rates (where relevant) calculated from the rounded numerator and denominator numbers. There are four exceptions to this, for rare events, where rates are calculated from unrounded numbers but are not shown where the numerator is less than 8. This applies to CQIMTears, CQIMPPH, CQIMPreterm, and CQIMApgar.

Key Facts

118 successful submissions

For December 2023 data, 118 providers successfully submitted data with 117 submitting data on births.

Two providers were unable to submit data and two providers submitted data that should be used with caution. See the Data quality statement for more detail.

50,080 bookings in December 2023

50,080 women with an antenatal booking appointment were reported in the period, of which 61% were within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.

Of the trusts that submitted booking data, there were 30,680 bookings in which the babies' gestational age was in the 0-70 days range.

42,780 births reported

We received data relating to 42,155 deliveries of 42,780 babies.

We have removed information about external data source counts of birth due to their lack of comparability with MSDS figures. We are investigating a more robust and appropriate replacement, and will reinstate a comparison when this work is complete.

47% of deliveries were spontaneous

47% of deliveries were spontaneous vaginal births, 10% had instrumental assistance, 18% were elective caesarean sections and 24% were emergency caesarean sections.

Administrative Sources

Maternity Services Data Set (MSDS): this is a patient-level data set that captures information about activity carried out by Maternity Services relating to a mother and baby(s), from the point of the first booking appointment until mother and baby(s) are discharged from maternity services. This is a secondary uses data set, which re-uses clinical and operational data for purposes other than direct patient care.

Last edited: 27 March 2024 10:58 am