News / National maternity dataset due date moved to 2015

By Steve Brown

The new national maternity dataset will now be in operation from April 2015, according to an update from sector regulator Monitor and NHS England.

The dataset, which will support the new maternity pathway system, was originally scheduled to be up and running from October last year and had been expected by some practitioners this autumn. The two bodies, responsible for the pricing system, have also warned that the initial release of the dataset will not include all data items needed to determine the pathway a woman is on.

Supplementary guidance on the maternity pathway system said: ‘Providers will not be able to directly determine the lead provider for any woman from this dataset in the first instance. The dataset will be adjusted to provide the information in future releases.’

Under the new payment system, providers are paid a single payment to cover three separate elements of care – antenatal, delivery and postnatal. For the antenatal and postnatal elements, there are three casemix levels – standard, intermediate and intensive – while there are just two prices for the delivery, depending on whether there are complications or comorbidities.

Payments are made to a lead provider. If other providers deliver elements of care within the pathway, they have to invoice the lead provider. However, this proved difficult in some cases during the system’s first full year in 2013/14.

The dataset is seen as a way of reducing the bureaucracy associated with the new system, but the announcement means commissioners and providers will have to wait a little longer before the national system can support the identification of lead providers.

However, the supplementary guidance does offer suggestions on identifying the lead provider and provides an example of how one commissioning support unit is already providing support for local cross-charging.

The guidance also clarifies aspects of care that are covered by the tariff payment, with a particular focus on activity occurring before the first antenatal appointment and screening and immunisation.