Maternity Services Data Set

Maternity Services Data Set
Name	Maternity Services Data Set
Country	United Kingdom
Managed by	NHS Digital
Started	2015
Type	National clinical dataset
Domain	Maternity care

Maternity Services Data Set

The Maternity Services Data Set is a national clinical dataset designed to capture pseudonymised information about antenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal care across NHS provider organisations. It aggregates episode-level records from maternity units, obstetrics departments, and midwifery teams to support service planning, clinical audit, and research for maternal and perinatal outcomes. The dataset interfaces with national programmes for maternal safety, perinatal epidemiology, and commissioning across the National Health Service.

Overview

The inception of the dataset responds to policy initiatives led by Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, and NHS Digital to standardise maternity information across trusts and boards such as Barts Health NHS Trust, Great Ormond Street Hospital, and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It aligns with clinical guidance from professional bodies including the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Royal College of Midwives, and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. International comparators and epidemiological frameworks from organisations like the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the European Perinatal Health Report inform its variable selection. Stakeholders such as Public Health England (now integrated into UK Health Security Agency arrangements) and academic centres at University of Oxford, University College London, and Imperial College London contribute to governance and analytic use.

Data Elements

Core elements include demographic identifiers, clinical risk factors, antenatal screening results, labour onset and augmentation, mode of delivery, perinatal interventions, and neonatal outcomes. Specific variables map to classifications and terminologies such as the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD), Office for National Statistics population categories, and procedure codings from the NHS Classification Service. Maternal comorbidities referenced reflect standards used by NICE guidance and metrics from surveillance systems like the UK Obstetric Surveillance System. Data fields enable linkage with registries and audits run by entities including the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership, the Maternity and Perinatal Audit, and specialist research cohorts at King's College London and University of Manchester.

Collection and Submission Process

Collection occurs at point-of-care in electronic maternity records such as systems supplied by Cerner Corporation, System C Healthcare, and DXC Technology. Local clinical coders and midwifery teams extract standardised extracts and submit them via secure channels to NHS Digital on scheduled cycles, following technical guidance co-produced with providers like Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust. The submission process interacts with national datasets such as the Hospital Episode Statistics and the Maternity and Neonatal Network feeds, with mapping tools developed by academic groups at University of Birmingham and University of Glasgow to harmonise legacy records.

Uses and Applications

Commissioners and regulators deploy the dataset for service planning, benchmarking, and performance indicators used by Care Quality Commission inspections and Clinical Commissioning Groups. Clinical researchers use it for observational studies on maternal morbidity, birthweight trends, and intervention safety in collaborations involving National Institute for Health and Care Research, Wellcome Trust funded projects, and multicentre trials at St Thomas' Hospital. Public health surveillance teams track perinatal mortality and morbidity alongside programmes run by Public Health England and the UK Health Security Agency. Data extracts support quality improvement initiatives at trust level, audits such as the Perinatal Mortality Surveillance Programme, and policy evaluations by NHS England and parliamentary health committees.

Governance and Quality Assurance

Governance is overseen by data controllers and steering groups with representation from NHS Digital, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and professional bodies including the Royal College of Midwives. Data quality frameworks reference standards from the Information Commissioner's Office and auditing approaches used by the National Audit Office. Regular validation routines compare submitted records against source systems and cross-checks with the Office for National Statistics birth registrations. Clinical advisory panels with experts from Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, and academic partners ensure variable definitions remain aligned with evolving guidance from NICE and international bodies such as the World Health Organization.

Privacy and Security

Data handling follows legal frameworks including the Data Protection Act 2018 and obligations articulated under the General Data Protection Regulation as retained in UK law. Pseudonymisation and de-identification techniques are applied before national aggregation to protect patient identity, consistent with protocols used by the Anonymisation Advisory Board and standards from the Information Commissioner's Office. Secure transfer and storage utilise accredited infrastructure and access governance models similar to those used by NHS Digital datasets and research safe havens at Oxford Big Data Institute and the Swansea University Secure Anonymised Information Linkage Databank.

Implementation and Integration

Implementation at provider sites requires integration between maternity IT systems, hospital electronic health records, and coding services supplied by vendors like Cerner, System C, and TietoEVRY. Interoperability is supported via messaging standards and terminologies endorsed by NHSX and mapping guides co-developed with academic informatics units at University of Edinburgh and Newcastle University. Integration projects are often part of digital transformation programmes funded by initiatives from NHS England and evaluated in pilot sites such as Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.

Category:Datasets in the United Kingdom