You asked
I'm just enquiring if you are able to break this FOI down for me please.
- Month and year of Maternal Death.
- How many of these Mothers died at home and what hospital's they were taken to after death?
- How many Mothers had midwives all the way through their pregnancy?
- How many midwives had midwives only part way through their pregnancy?
- At what month of their pregnancy did they transfer to another hospital?
We said
Thank you for your query regarding maternal deaths data.
The ONS holds deaths registered to women where a pregnancy-related cause is listed on the death certificate and is then coded as the underlying cause (the O codes in the International Classification of Diseases) which can be found in Table 5.15 https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredinenglandandwalesseriesdr/2015
However, a maternal death is defined internationally as a death of a woman during or up to six weeks (42 days) after the end of pregnancy (whether the pregnancy ended by termination, miscarriage or a birth, or was an ectopic pregnancy) through causes associated with, or exacerbated by, pregnancy (World Health Organisation 2010).
To provide data to meet this definition the MBRRACE-UK programme of work is responsible for the national Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths (CEMD) within the United Kingdom: https://www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/mbrrace-uk
The report of the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths 2011-2013 published 8 December 2015 can be found here: https://www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/mbrrace-uk/reports
Last year's report is available here: https://www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/downloads/files/mbrrace-uk/reports/Saving%20Lives%20Improving%20Mothers%20Care%20report%202014%20Full.pdf
This is your best source of data on maternal deaths and any queries should be directed to MBRACE-UK (mbrrace-uk@npeu.ox.ac.uk)