Publication, Part of Maternity Services Monthly Statistics
Maternity Services Monthly Statistics, Final February 2025, Provisional March 2025, official statistics
Official statistics
Summary
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 meet the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST) Maternity Incentive Scheme (MIS) Data Quality Criteria for Safety Action 2 we produce a CNST Scorecard Dashboard showing trust performance against this criteria. Following the publication of the criteria for Year 7 for the Maternity Incentive Scheme earlier in April, this MSDS release includes the second publication of the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts: Scorecard showing trust performance against the new criteria. The assessment month for Safety Action 2 will be final July 2025 data.
This dashboard does include data for a few non-CNST MSDS data quality priorities, which are not assessed as part of the CNST Maternity Incentive Scheme.
The percentages presented in this report are based on rounded figures and therefore may not total to 100%.
Highlights
Official Statistics
These statistics are now classified as official. More information about official statistics can be found on the UK Statistics Authority website. More information about this change can be found in the Data Quality Statement.
Where this publication contains new or existing statistics undergoing development and improvement work, they will individually be labelled as "Official Statistics in development" in the accompanying Metadata.
Publication data files and suppression methodology
This publication contains three separate CSV files for the reporting months: one set for the final (February 2025) data and one set for the provisional (March 2025) data.
The contents of the three files are as follows:
• CSV Data: Aggregate figures based on the MSDS, for a standard set of metrics including the total numbers of booking appointments, deliveries, and babies born within the reporting month. Breakdowns are provided at several organisational and regional levels including National, Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS), and Provider (trust).
• Data Quality: Counts broken down by provider, showing the VODIM (Valid, Default, Invalid, or Missing) status of the records submitted for each data field within the MSDS. This file contains information about data quality only and should not be used to assess activity and outcomes. It reports on all the data provided at submission and will include information about records that are not included in the final analysis contained within the other two CSV files.
• Measures: Aggregate figures based on the MSDS, for several specific sets of metrics including but not limited to those for Clinical Quality Improvement Metrics (CQIM), Continuity of Carer (CofC), mother's body mass index (BMI), and the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle v3 (SBLCBv3). Breakdowns are provided at several organisational and regional levels including National, Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS), and Provider (trust). This file only contains CQIMBreastfeeding6to8Weeks figures for final data, not provisional data, as this metric requires Community Services Dataset (CSDS) records which are not available within the required timeframe.
This publication is accompanied by a Metadata file located on the MSDS guidance hub which contains more granular detail about the contents of the above files, including information about the definitions and logic used in their construction.
In accordance with the suppression methodology guidance for this dataset, rounding has been applied to all figures as follows: counts of zero are shown as zero, counts of 1-7 are rounded to 5, and all other counts are rounded to the nearest 5, with rates (where relevant) calculated from the rounded numerator and denominator numbers. There are four exceptions to this, for rare events, where rates are calculated from unrounded numbers but are not shown where the numerator is less than 8. This applies to CQIMTears, CQIMPPH, CQIMPreterm, and CQIMApgar.
Key Facts
119 successful submissions
For February 2025 data, 119 providers successfully submitted data with 119 submitting data on births.
52,620 bookings in February 2025
52,620 women with an antenatal booking appointment were reported in the period, of which 64% were within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.
40,210 births reported in February 2025
We received data relating to 39,675 deliveries of 40,210 babies.
44% of deliveries were spontaneous in February 2025
44% of deliveries were spontaneous vaginal births, 10% had instrumental assistance, 20% were elective caesarean sections and 25% were emergency caesarean sections.
Interactive Tool
Administrative Sources
Maternity Services Data Set (MSDS): this is a patient-level data set that captures information about activity carried out by Maternity Services relating to a mother and baby(s), from the point of the first booking appointment until mother and baby(s) are discharged from maternity services. This is a secondary uses data set, which re-uses clinical and operational data for purposes other than direct patient care.
Resources
Last edited: 22 May 2025 9:31 am