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Digital

Publication, Part of

NHS Maternity Statistics - England, 2014-15

Official statistics
Publication Date:
Geographic Coverage:
England
Geographical Granularity:
Hospital Trusts, Primary Care Trusts, Country, NHS Trusts, Provider, Regions, Hospital and Community Health Services
Date Range:
01 Apr 2014 to 31 Mar 2015

Summary

(Update January 2016) Please note, a correction has been made to the 'Reporting Definitions' tab of the NHS Maternity Statistics Tables and Table B of the PLA; the definition of parity has been updated, the definition of singletons has been added. Table B of the PLA has been updated to correct the figures for Gestation length at delivery at 41-43 weeks and 44 or over.

This is a report on deliveries in English NHS hospitals. This annual publication covers the financial year ending March 2015.
 
The data are taken from the Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) data warehouse. HES contains records of all admissions, appointments and attendances for patients admitted to NHS hospitals in England. The HES data used in this publication are called 'delivery episodes'. This publication shows the number of delivery episodes during the period, with a number of breakdowns including by the woman's age, delivery method and place of delivery.

The purpose of this publication is to inform and support strategic and policy-led processes for the benefit of patient care. This document will also be of interest to researchers, journalists and members of the public interested in NHS hospital activity in England.

Highlights

• The number of deliveries taking place in NHS hospitals has decreased by 1.6 per cent since 2013-14 to 636,643.

• 59.3 per cent (321,803) of deliveries were spontaneous onset; 14.9 per cent (80,648) were medically induced and 13.9 per cent (75,245) were caesarean onset.

• 379,062 (60.4 per cent) of deliveries in NHS hospitals were spontaneous deliveries. The percentage of caesarean deliveries has slightly increased to 26.5 per cent (166,319), with a 0.3 percentage point increase from 2013-14.

• Over a third of all deliveries (39.4 per cent, 198,457) required no anaesthetic before or during delivery, 55.7 per cent (166,246) for spontaneous deliveries. The percentage of deliveries not requiring anaesthetic has increased from 36.6% (193,239) in 2013-14 to 39.4% (198,457) in 2014-15.

• 43.8 per cent (278,629) of delivery episodes had a total duration of one day or less; 68.7 per cent (437,156) two days or less and only 11.2 per cent (71,599) of delivery episodes lasted five days or more.

• The 30-34 age group accounted for the highest number of deliveries (194,086, 31.0 per cent of deliveries) which is consistent with 2013-14 (30.5 per cent, 194,398).

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Last edited: 24 August 2020 4:34 pm