NHS Maternity Statistics, 2008-09

Summary

Associated tables can be found on the HESonline website.

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.

For the 2008-09 publication, the data will be released in two phases, this will enable us to release headline maternity statistics in a timely fashion and deliver the remaining tables approximately 6-8 weeks later. This is an interim approach and will be reviewed before the 2009/10 publication is released.

The following tables will be released in phase one:

• Table 2: Place of delivery by strategic health authority of treatment
• Table 22: Complications recorded during the delivery episode
• Table 26: Total, singleton, twin and higher order multiple deliveries by gestation and birth status
• Table 27: Deliveries by length of gestation and method of onset of labour
• Table 31: Method of onset of labour by NHS trust and site
• Table 32: Method of delivery by NHS trust and site
• Table 33: Selected statistics by NHS trust and site
• Table 34: Count of delivery episodes by NHS trust.

These have been selected using the HES online website statistics for number of downloads of each table within the publication.

Key facts

• There was no significant change in the caesarean rate from 2007-08 to 2008-09, with the rate of caesareans being 24.6 per cent in both years (154,814 in 2008-09 and 153,406 in 2007-08).
• 20.2 per cent (108,617) of labours were induced, compared to 20.4 per cent (94,422) in 2007-08.
• The number of instrumental deliveries increased by 0.1 percentage points, accounting for 12.2 per cent (76,742) of all deliveries, compared to 12.1 per cent (75,253) in 2007-08.
• In 2008-09, 48.8 per cent of deliveries took place in what are designated consultant wards, compared to 44.7 per cent in 2007-08 and 40.4 per cent of deliveries taking place in combined consultant/midwife/GP wards compared to 43.6 per cent in 2007-08.
• Over half (50.3 per cent, or 231,209) of all deliveries occurred between 39 and 40 weeks' gestation, compared to 49.4 per cent (163,092) in 2007-08.