Rise in babies delivered in NHS hospitals, new figures show

Nearly 650,000 deliveries took place in NHS hospitals in England in 2007-08, a new report from The NHS Information Centre shows.

The number is 20,630 (3.3 per cent) more than the previous year, reaching 649,837, according to NHS Maternity Statistics, England; 2007-08.

The caesarean rate increased by 0.3 percentage points compared to the previous year, accounting for 24.6 per cent (153,406) of deliveries (where the relevant information was recorded), while the number of instrumental deliveries increased by 0.6 percentage points, accounting for 12.1 per cent (75,253) of total deliveries, where the method of delivery was known.

The report also shows that in 2007-08, where the relevant information was recorded:

  • More than a third of women (36.5 per cent, or 149,497) had an epidural, general or spinal anaesthetic during labour, compared to 35.8 per cent (149,223) in 2006-07.
  • Almost three quarters (74.1 per cent, or 196,055) of women with spontaneous deliveries spent a day or less in hospital after delivery, compared to 72.0 per cent (201,732) in 2006-07.
  • Nearly half (44.7 per cent, or 126,069) of single live born babies born to white women in NHS hospitals in England weighed more than 3500g (7lb 7oz). This compares to 35.1 per cent (7,262) of black women's babies and 23.8 per cent (9,282) of Asian women's babies.
  • Midwives conducted 60.3 per cent of deliveries, compared to 61.7 per cent in 2006-07. Hospital doctors conducted 36.2 per cent of deliveries, compared to 35.0 per cent in 2006-07.

NHS Information Centre chief executive Tim Straughan said: “Our figures show maternity wards in English NHS hospitals had a busy 2007-08, with nearly 650,000 deliveries taking place across the country. Deliveries increased by just over 20,000 compared to the previous year."

The full report is at: www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/maternity0708

ENDS

Notes to editors

  1. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care (The IC) is England's authoritative, central, independent source of health and social care information. It works with a wide range of health and social care providers nationwide to provide the facts and figures that help the NHS and social services run effectively. Its role is to collect data, analyse it and convert it into useful information which helps providers improve their services and supports academics, researcher, regulators and policymakers in their work. The NHS IC also produces a wide range of statistical publications each year across a number of areas including: primary care, health and lifestyles, screening, hospital care, population and geography, social care and workforce and pay statistics.
  2. The quality of 2007-08 maternity data has 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 on HES Online for more information. http://www.hesonline.nhs.uk/Ease/servlet/ContentServer?siteID=1937&categoryID=537
  3. Figures relating to birth weight and ethnicity look at live born single births only and do not include still born births and multiple births. When interpreting weight and ethnicity figures, please note 35.2 per cent of births in 2007-08 were recorded with an “unknown” status, which means the figures do not present a fully comprehensive picture.
  4. Regional data, to NHS Trust level, is available.
  5. A number of revisions have been made to methodology used to in NHS Maternity Statistics. These revisions are intended to start to bring the publication in line with the National Statistics code of practice and highlight data quality issues in order to stimulate improvement in the quality of HES maternity data submitted by NHS organisations.
  6. As a result of changes in methodology, NHS Maternity Statistics 2007-08 is only comparable with NHS Maternity Statistics 2006-07. It is not directly comparable with previous years publications, although a number of time series have been reproduced based on the new methodology for comparison purposes.
  7. For media enquires please call 0845 257 6990 or contact: