National Perinatal Reporting System (NPRS)

Data Collection Type
National data collections of health and social care in Ireland
Organisation

Healthcare Pricing Office (HPO) within the National Finance Division, HSE.

Year established

Commenced as a pilot in 1969. Rolled out to all maternity hospitals in early 1970s. Between 1990 and 2013 the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) managed the scheme on behalf of the Department of Health and the HSE. Since January 2014 the scheme has been managed by the Healthcare Pricing Office (HPO) in the HSE (www.hpo.ie).

Statement of purpose

To maintain a timely accurate national database of key perinatal indicators over time. Collection, processing, management and reporting of data on all births nationally that meets the needs of the data users (including policymakers, clinical teams and researchers), through the development and support of the system.

Coverage (geographical and temporal)

All maternity hospitals/departments and independent midwives report to NPRS covering 100% of births in Ireland.
NPRS data collection commenced in 1970 and is ongoing.

Description/Summary

The National Perinatal Reporting System (NPRS) has as its principal aim, the provision of national statistics on perinatal events.

Data users

HSE, Department of Health, policy-makers, clinical teams and researchers.

Data content

The information collected includes: data on pregnancy outcomes (with particular reference to perinatal mortality and important aspects of perinatal care); descriptive social and biological characteristics of mothers giving birth.

Data dictionary

Yes – full data dictionary published on HPO website. www.hpo.ie

National-level identifier variables

There is no national unique identifier. At national level NPRS collects date of birth.

Equity stratifiers

Gender, occupation age, area of residence captured by NPRS and included in data dictionary. Equity stratifiers not specifically identified currently. NPRS data relies on information collected at hospital level.

Data collection methodology

All births are registered and notified on a standard four part birth notification form which is completed where the birth takes place. Part 3 of this paper form is sent to the HPO office for data entry and validation. Approximately 40% of hospitals submit data electronically to the NPRS system.

Clinical coding scheme

ICD-10 for the coding of morbidity and mortality data.

Size of national collection

Approximately 60,000 average number of records created annually.

Publication frequency

Perinatal Statistics Report. Annual reports published on HPO website.
www.hpo.ie

Accessing data

NPRS data sets are provided to a number of state agencies in order to address specific data requirements. Data requests can be submitted to nprs@hpo.ie directly. In addition annual reports on Perinatal Statistics on the HPO website.

Open data portal access

No.

Email contact
Telephone contact
Other comments

Additional information and documentation regarding HIPE is available at www.hpo.ie