§ Ms DrownTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what maternity statistics the Government plan to publish; and by what means and when user organisations will he involved in discussions on this. [38776]
§ Yvette CooperThe third in the series of statistical bulletins "NHS Maternity Statistics, England", covering data for the years 1998–99 to 2000–01, was published in April 2002. This contained similar information to that in the second bulletin, "NHS Maternity Statistics, England", 1995–96 to 1997–98, which is available in the Library and also on the website at http://www.doh.gov.uk/ public/sb0114.htm.
Following publication it is planned to consult the health statistics users' group regarding the content of future bulletins.
The NHS Maternity Statistics bulletin is produced by the Department and summarises information from the Hospital Episodes (HES) System relating to NHS maternities in England. It contains information such as labour onset method and delivery method, including caesarean rates, at hospital/trust level. It also has regional information about the place of delivery, length of stay in hospital, use of episiotomy, type of anaesthetic used, and national information for numbers of singleton and multiple deliveries by birthweight and gestation and day of week of delivery. Tables also show percentages of pregnancies and deliveries with antenatal and postnatal problems by diagnosis and delivery method and similar tables for problems with the newborn.
The first bulletin was published in December 1997 and covered the first six years of maternity HES 1989–90 to 1994–95. The second bulletin published in June 2001 covered data for the next three years 1995–96 to 1997–98. Data for 1998–99 to 2000–01 was published in April 2002. It is expected that the bulletin will then be published annually.