Official Statistics

Key Facts

Published 6 April 2016

© Crown copyright 2016

This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.

Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.

This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/maternity-services-monthly-statistics-nov-2015/key-facts

This report contains key information based on the submissions that have been made by providers and will focus on data relating to activity that occurred in November 2015.
  • For November 2015 data, 85 providers successfully submitted data for the MSDS. This compares with 141 providers submitting data in HES for 2014-15. We are working closely with providers who did not respond and expect coverage and data quality to increase over time.
  • The average age of a woman attending a booking appointment was 29 years. The average age varied by commissioning region from 29 years in the North of England Commissioning Region to 31 years in the London Commissioning Region.
  • Women under the age of 20 accounted for 4.1 per cent of all women with a recorded age. The highest proportion of these pregnancies occurred in the North of England Commissioning Region, where 5.0 per cent of women were under the age of 20.
  • The percentage of women attending antenatal appointments with a recorded height and weight that were obese (with a Body Mass Index (BMI) over 30) was 21 per cent. Those who were underweight (BMI less than 18.5), accounted for 7 per cent of women attending booking appointments with a recorded booking appointment.
  • At the time of their booking appointment, 12 per cent of women with a recorded smoking status were smokers, and 77 per cent were non-smokers.
  • The percentage of women with a recorded number (between 0 and 20) of previous births and caesarean sections that had not given birth before was 43 per cent. Women who had given birth before, but had never had a caesarean section accounted for 44 per cent of all the women attending booking appointments. The percentage of women that had had at least one previous caesarean section was 13 per cent.
Back to top