This is a publication on maternity activity in English NHS hospitals. This report examines data relating to delivery and birth episodes in 2023-24, and the booking appointments for these deliveries. This annual publication covers the financial year ending March 2024. Data is included from both the Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) data warehouse and the Maternity Services Data Set (MSDS). 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'. The MSDS collects records of each stage of the maternity service care pathway in NHS-funded maternity services, and includes information not recorded in HES. The MSDS is a maturing, national-level dataset. In April 2019, the MSDS transitioned to a new version of the dataset. This version, MSDS v2.0, is an update that introduced a new structure and content - including clinical terminology, in order to meet current clinical practice and incorporate new requirements. It is designed to meet requirements that resulted from the National Maternity Review, which led to the publication of the Better Births report in February 2016. This is the fifth publication of data from MSDS v2.0 and data from 2019-20 onwards is not directly comparable to data from previous years. This publication shows the number of HES delivery episodes during the period, with a number of breakdowns including by method of onset of labour, delivery method and place of delivery. It also shows the number of MSDS deliveries recorded during the period, with a breakdown for the mother's smoking status at the booking appointment by age group. It also provides counts of live born term babies with breakdowns for the general condition of newborns (via Apgar scores), skin-to-skin contact and baby's first feed type - all immediately after birth. There is also data available in a separate file on breastfeeding at 6 to 8 weeks. For the first time information on 'Smoking at Time of Delivery' has been presented using annual data from the MSDS. This includes national data broken down by maternal age, ethnicity and deprivation. From 2025/2026, MSDS will become the official source of 'Smoking at Time of Delivery' information and will replace the historic 'Smoking at Time of Delivery' data which is to become retired. We are currently undergoing dual collection and reporting on a quarterly basis for 2024/25 to help users compare information from the two sources. We are working with data submitters to help reconcile any discrepancies at a local level before any close down activities begin. A link to the dual reporting in the SATOD publication series can be found in the links below. Information on how all measures are constructed can be found in the HES Metadata and MSDS Metadata files provided below. In this publication we have also included an interactive Power BI dashboard to enable users to explore key NHS Maternity Statistics measures. The purpose of this publication is to inform and support strategic and policy-led processes for the benefit of patient care. This report will also be of interest to researchers, journalists and members of the public interested in NHS hospital activity in England. Any feedback on this publication or dashboard can be provided to enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk, under the subject “NHS Maternity Statistics”.

This is a publication on maternity activity in English NHS hospitals. This report examines data relating to delivery and birth episodes in 2019-20, and the booking appointments for these deliveries. This annual publication covers the financial year ending March 2020. Data is included from both the Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) data warehouse and the Maternity Services Data Set (MSDS). 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'. The MSDS collects records of each stage of the maternity service care pathway in NHS-funded maternity services, and includes information not recorded in HES. The MSDS is a maturing, national-level dataset. For data in 2019-20, the MSDS transitioned to a new version of the dataset. MSDS v2.0 is an update to the existing data set that introduces a new structure and content, including clinical terminology, in order to meet current clinical practice and incorporate new requirements. It is designed to meet requirements that resulted from the National Maternity Review, which led to the publication of the Better Births report in February 2016. This is the first publication of data from MSDS v2.0, therefore data from this year is not directly comparable to previous years. This publication shows the number of HES delivery episodes during the period, with a number of breakdowns including by method of onset of labour, delivery method and place of delivery. It also shows the number of MSDS deliveries recorded during the period, with breakdowns including the baby's first feed type and the folic acid use. 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. A slight correction has been made to the rates table in tab TC1920 of the HES Provider Analysis file which now derives the correct totals excluding the unknowns. These are the denominators for the respective rates in the table so all the rates have been updated.

California Birth Report totals by Birth Characteristics to inform the public, stakeholders, and researchers.

The DHCS Medi-Cal Birth Statistics tables present the descriptive statistics for California resident births that occurred in a hospital setting, including data on maternal characteristics, delivery methods, and select birth outcomes such as low birthweight and preterm delivery. Tables also include key comorbidities and health behaviors known to influence birth outcomes, such as hypertension, diabetes, substance use, pre-pregnancy weight, and smoking during pregnancy.

DHCS additionally presents birth statistics for women participating in the Medi-Cal Fee-For-Service (FFS) and managed care delivery systems, as well as births financed by private insurance, births financed by other public funding sources, and births among uninsured mothers. Medi-Cal data reflect mothers that were deemed as Medi-Cal certified eligible.

Note: Data for maternal comorbidities including hypertension, diabetes, and substance use have been provisionally omitted among calendar years 2020-2022 for the time being.

This is a publication on maternity activity in English NHS hospitals. This report examines data relating to delivery and birth episodes in 2021-22, and the booking appointments for these deliveries. This annual publication covers the financial year ending March 2022. Data is included from both the Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) data warehouse and the Maternity Services Data Set (MSDS). 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'. The MSDS collects records of each stage of the maternity service care pathway in NHS-funded maternity services, and includes information not recorded in HES. The MSDS is a maturing, national-level dataset. In April 2019 the MSDS transitioned to a new version of the dataset. This version, MSDS v2.0, is an update that introduced a new structure and content - including clinical terminology, in order to meet current clinical practice and incorporate new requirements. It is designed to meet requirements that resulted from the National Maternity Review, which led to the publication of the Better Births report in February 2016. This is the third publication of data from MSDS v2.0 and data from 2019-20 onwards is not directly comparable to data from previous years. This publication shows the number of HES delivery episodes during the period, with a number of breakdowns including by method of onset of labour, delivery method and place of delivery. It also shows the number of MSDS deliveries recorded during the period, with breakdowns including the baby's first feed type, birthweight, place of birth, and breastfeeding activity; and the mothers' ethnicity and age at booking. There is also data available in a separate file on breastfeeding at 6 to 8 weeks. The count of Total Babies includes both live and still births, and previous changes to how Total Babies and Total Deliveries were calculated means that comparisons between 2019-20 MSDS data and later years should be made with care. The MethodfDelivery measure counting babies has been replaced by the DeliveryMethodBabyGroup measure which counts deliveries, and the smoking at booking and folic acid status measures have been renamed - these changes have been made to better align this annual publication with the Maternity Services Monthly Statistics publication. Information on how all measures are constructed can be found in the HES Metadata and MSDS Metadata files provided below. In this publication we have also included an interactive Power BI dashboard to enable users to explore key NHS Maternity Statistics measures. The purpose of this publication is to inform and support strategic and policy-led processes for the benefit of patient care. This report will also be of interest to researchers, journalists and members of the public interested in NHS hospital activity in England. Any feedback on this publication or dashboard can be provided to enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk, under the subject “NHS Maternity Statistics”.

This is a publication on maternity activity in English NHS hospitals. This report examines data relating to delivery and birth episodes in 2018-19, and the booking appointments for these deliveries. This annual publication covers the financial year ending March 2019. Data is included from both the Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) data warehouse and the Maternity Services Data Set (MSDS). 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'. The MSDS collects records of each stage of the maternity service care pathway in NHS-funded maternity services, and includes information not recorded in HES. The MSDS is a maturing, national-level dataset. The number of deliveries recorded in the MSDS is 91 per cent of the number of deliveries recorded in HES, so the partial coverage of the MSDS both geographically and over time means that figures from the MSDS should not be interpreted as England level figures for 2018-19. This publication shows the number of HES delivery episodes during the period, with a number of breakdowns including by method of onset of labour, delivery method and place of delivery. It also shows the number of MSDS deliveries recorded during the period, with breakdowns including the baby's first feed type and the smoking status of women in early pregnancy. For the first time, this publication contains information about the mother’s weekly alcohol intake at booking appointment and folic acid use from the MSDS. 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. A slight correction has been made to the rates table in tab TC1819 of the HES Provider Analysis file which now derives the correct totals excluding the unknowns. These are the denominators for the respective rates in the table so all the rates have been updated.

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.

As of 2016, the top U.S. hospital for child birth is Northside Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. All hospitals are required, by law, to report and provide access to birth records through the federal National Vital Statistics system. The U.S. system of reporting births (and deaths) is funded by individual States as well as through the National Center for Health Statistics.

Georgia birth data

Georgia is one of the most populous states in the United States. The metropolitan area with the highest birth rate in the U.S. was Hinesville, Georgia. Hinesville is located in the south eastern section of the state of Georgia. Despite having the hospital that delivers the most babies in the U.S., Georgia does not have one of highest birth rates in the U.S. As of 2017, Utah had the highest birth rate in the United States.

Birth-related developments

The number of U.S. births has remained relatively stable since 1990. Despite having a relatively stable birth rate, the number bassinet available in U.S. hospitals is on the decline. Birth rates, however, show variation among different U.S. populations. Mothers of American Indian or Alaska Native descent tend to have higher birth rates than other ethnicities.

Estimates based on District hospital discharge data. Counts of and rates based on fewer than 10 births are suppressed for privacy reasons.

Source: Center for Policy Planning and Evaluation, DC Department of Health

Why This Matters

In recent decades, pregnancy-related deaths have risen in the United States. Although relatively rare and mostly preventable, the numbers are high relative to other high-income countries.

Leading underlying causes of pregnancy-related deaths include severe bleeding, cardiac and coronary conditions, and infections. Individual, social, and structural factors contribute to maternal death risk and trends, including maternal age, preexisting medical conditions, access to quality care, insurance, and longstanding racial and ethnic inequities.

Maternal mortality rates are disproportionately higher among birthing people who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

The District Response

Enhancements to District healthcare programs. Medicaid expansion provides greater access to prenatal care, extended postpartum Medicaid coverage for a full year, and reimbursement for doula services through all District programs. For a list of local and national resources on pregnancy and related topics, click here.

Paid family leave program providing 12 weeks to bond with a new child or care for a serious health condition, and 2 weeks specifically for prenatal care.

The District established the Maternal Mortality Review Committee, which investigates the causes of maternal deaths, and develops strategic frameworks to improve maternal health.

Number and percentage of live births and fetal deaths (stillbirths), by place of birth (hospital or non-hospital), 1991 to most recent year.

Maternal mortality is widely considered an indicator of overall population health and the status of women in the population. DOHMH uses multiple methods including death certificates, vital records linkage, medical examiner records, and hospital discharge data to identify all pregnancy-associated deaths (deaths that occur during pregnancy or within a year of the end of pregnancy) of New York state residents in NYC each year. DOHMH convenes the Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee (M3RC), a multidisciplinary and diverse group of 40 members that conducts an in-depth, expert review of each pregnancy-associated death of New York state residents occurring in NYC from both clinical and social determinants of health perspectives. The data in this table come from vital records and the M3RC review process. Data are not cross-classified on all variables: cause of death data are available by the relation to pregnancy (pregnancy-related, pregnancy-associated but not related, unable to determine), race/ethnicity and borough of residence data are each separately available for the total number of pregnancy-associated deaths and pregnancy-related deaths only.

In 2024, over ** percent of hospitals in the United States offered breastfeed consultants for maternity patients. Generally this was provided in the hospital. Moreover, close to ** percent of hospitals allowed doulas for labor and delivery, which is associated with better birthing experience and outcome. Just ** percent of hospitals allowed for VBAC attempt. This means that at ** percent of hospitals, the birthing individual must have a c-section after a previous cesarean delivery, which is unnecessary most of the time.

For the 2011-12 financial year, Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) has collected over 17 million records detailing episodes of admitted patient care delivered by NHS hospitals in England. These records include details of each delivery which takes place in an NHS hospital. This information has been published in recent years in an annual statistical bulletin.

This is the fourteenth bulletin that has been published on this subject. It covers the period from April 2011 to March 2012 and draws on nearly 669,000 detailed records of deliveries in NHS hospitals.

NHS Maternity Statistics, 2011-12

33 tables and 2 graphs are available in one excel workbook which includes data on the following;

Place of delivery

Person conducting delivery

Anaesthetics

Method of onset and method of delivery

Episiotomy

Antenatal/postnatal stay

Complications

Gestation

Birth weight

Miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy

Provider-level analysis, 2011-12

The purpose of the provider-level analysis is to contribute to the improvement of both the quality and coverage of maternity data submitted to HES. It is hoped this will stimulate discussion and ultimately contribute to enhancements in patient care.

The provider level analysis provides information at national, strategic health authority, hospital provider and site level (where submitted) relating to:

Gestation period in weeks at first antenatal assessment date

Gestation length at delivery

Method of onset of labour

Method of delivery

Person conducting delivery

Place of delivery

Selected Maternity statistics

Spontaneous deliveries with episiotomy

Caesarean with postnatal stay 0-3 days

Total caesarean with anaesthetics

Unassisted deliveries

In 2023, Hospital Civil de Guadalajara Juan I. Menchaca was the health care institution with the most equipment for maternity units for accommodating newborns in the country, with *** medical devices. Hospital Civil de Guadalajara Fray Antonio Alcalde ranked second, with *** units of equipment for maternity and newborn health care. That year, the hospital with the highest number of beds for hosting patients in Mexico was Hospital Universitario Dr. José Eleuterio González.

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, which can be accessed via the link below. Data derived from SNOMED codes is used in some measures such as those for birthweight, 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 Year 6, we have been producing a CNST Scorecard Dashboard showing trust performance against this criteria. The final results for the CNST MIS Y6 SA2 assessment, using July 2024 data, are now available in this dashboard, and can be accessed via the link below. This dashboard also includes data for a few non-CNST MSDS data quality priorities and last month we introduced into the dashboard a new data quality measure on birth site code recording, in accordance with Maternity and Neonatal Programme priorities. This new measure will not be assessed as part of the Maternity Incentive Scheme. This month, a small improvement was made to how the CQIMReadmissions metric uses discharge date information and this has resulted in a small change in the data output. As a result, the published CQIMReadmissions figures from this month's publication onwards are not fully comparable to the figures from earlier months. Last month, MSDS metrics published to support Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle (SBLCB) monitoring were updated to align with the contents of SBLCB version 3. As a result some SBLCB version 2 metrics have been removed from the Measures file and others have been renamed to align with SBLCB version 3 naming conventions. More information about the CQIMReadmissions change and the MSDS metrics published to support SBLCB are available in the accompanying Metadata file. The percentages presented in this report are based on rounded figures and therefore may not total to 100%.

Note: (10/12/2010) The Health and Social Care Information Centre initially published the Provider Level Analysis spreadsheet on 18/11/2010. Due to the suppression of small numbers it wasn't possible to calculate method of onset or delivery rates for all providers. Additional information has been added to tables C and D of the Provider Level Analysis allowing estimated rates to be presented. Maternity data The publication includes details of all deliveries 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. Data for 2009-10 A number of revisions have been made to the size and the presentation of the 2009-10 NHS Maternity Statistics publication. These revisions are intended to bring the publication in line with the National Statistics code of practice and highlight data quality issues to stimulate improvement in the quality of HES maternity data submitted by NHS organisations. For further details on the changes to the table numbers and locations see Appendix A of the maternity explanatory notes. The 2009-10 NHS Maternity Statistics publication will include two downloadable excel files; NHS Maternity Statistics, 2009-10 33 tables and 3 graphs are now available in one excel workbook which includes data on the following; •Place of delivery •Person conducting delivery •Anaesthetics •Method of onset and method of delivery •Episiotomy Antenatal/postnatal stay •Complications •Gestation •Birth weight •Miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy Provider level analysis, 2009-10 The purpose of the provider level analysis is to contribute to the improvement of both the quality and coverage of maternity data submitted to HES. It is hoped this will stimulate discussion and ultimately contribute to enhancements in patient care. The provider level analysis provides information at National, strategic health authority, hospital provider and site level (where submitted) relating to: •Gestation period in weeks at first antenatal assessment date •Gestation length at delivery •Method of onset of labour •Method of delivery •Person conducting delivery •Place of delivery •Selected maternity statistics •Spontaneous deliveries with episiotomy •Caesarean with postnatal stay 0-3 days •Total caesarean with anaesthetics •Unassisted deliveries

Births that occurred by hospital name. Birth events of 5 or more per hospital location are displayed

BackgroundMaternity care has to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is known that obstetric intervention can influence the time of birth, but no previous analysis at a national level in England has yet investigated in detail the ways in which the day and time of birth varies by onset of labour and mode of giving birth.MethodWe linked data from birth registration, birth notification, and Maternity Hospital Episode Statistics and analysed 5,093,615 singleton births in NHS maternity units in England from 2005 to 2014. We used descriptive statistics and negative binomial regression models with harmonic terms to establish how patterns of timing of birth vary by onset of labour, mode of giving birth and gestational age.ResultsThe timing of birth by time of day and day of the week varies considerably by onset of labour and mode of birth. Spontaneous births after spontaneous onset are more likely to occur between midnight and 6am than at other times of day, and are also slightly more likely on weekdays than at weekends and on public holidays. Elective caesarean births are concentrated onto weekday mornings. Births after induced labours are more likely to occur at hours around midnight on Tuesdays to Saturdays and on days before a public holiday period, than on Sundays, Mondays and during or just after a public holiday.ConclusionThe timing of births varies by onset of labour and mode of birth and these patterns have implications for midwifery and medical staffing. Further research is needed to understand the processes behind these findings.

In 2023/24, around 23.7 percent of all childbirths in England were an emergency caesarean, while around 18.7 percent were an elective caesarean. These figures represent an increase in caesarean births from the last two years.