UPDATE 22 November 2016: The Key Facts have been corrected for this publication. The main report document "Hospital Maternity Activity, 2015-16: Summary Report" has been updated and the operational note amended to reference this correction. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
This is a report on deliveries in English NHS hospitals. This annual publication covers the financial year ending March 2016. The data are taken from the Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) data warehouse. 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'. This publication shows the number of delivery episodes during the period, with a number of breakdowns including by the woman's age, delivery method and place of delivery.
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.