Childbirth
(asked on 10th January 2019) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many babies were born in (a) an obstetric unit, (b) a midwifery unit situated alongside an obstetric unit, (c) a standalone midwifery unit, (d) at home, (e) in another setting in the most recent period for which information is available.
The most recent relevant data available are from the ‘Maternity Services Monthly Statistics - September 2018 Experimental Statistics’, published on 3 January 2019. This is a report on National Health Service-funded maternity services in England for September 2018, using data submitted to the Maternity Services Data Set. The totals in the following table reflect data received from 127 NHS-funded maternity providers in England who submitted data and reflect responses to questions on the place of birth of babies born in September 2018.
Place of birth | Total number of babies born (September 2018) |
Midwifery unit, co-located with consultant obstetric unit | 3,342 |
Midwifery unit, co-located with other non-obstetric consultant unit | 107 |
Midwifery unit, stand alone | 651 |
Midwifery unit, type not known | 1,923 |
At a domestic address | 822 |
Consultant ward | 15,339 |
General medical practitioner (GMP) ward | 5 |
Consultant/GMP/midwife ward | 24,600 |
Other hospital or institution | 5 |
Ward/unit without delivery facilities | 138 |
None of the above | 132 |
Not known | 299 |
Missing Value / Value outside reporting parameters | 1,065 |
Of the 132 NHS-funded maternity providers in England, 127 submitted data relating to births in September 2018. NHS Digital is continuing to work closely with providers who did not respond or did not provide complete data and expects coverage and data quality to increase over time. Further details can be found at the following link: